Astronomers have finally solved the mystery of the mysterious bursts of light known as "blue flashes" coming from the depths of the universe for a decade. Studies on a new signal called AT 2024wpp reveal that these dazzling blue lights are not simple stellar explosions (supernovae), but rather the result of a black hole destroying a star in just a few days, effectively "grinding it up." This discovery, which has excited the scientific community, sheds light on one of the wildest and brightest events in space.
Visible from billions of light-years away, these blue flashes release such immense energy that a normal star explosion could not physically reach this power. Researchers describe the event as a "Stellar Disruption Event." A black hole 100 times the mass of the Sun pulls in a nearby massive star with its enormous gravitational force, stretching it like spaghetti and tearing it apart. The energy released during this violent process creates one of the universe's brightest and most mysterious light shows.
What sets this particular explosion apart is how the black hole selects its victim. According to scientists' theory, the black hole secretly feeds on the neighboring star over a long period, forming a massive shell of matter around it. When the star gets too close, the final catastrophic collision interacts with the previously accumulated matter, producing the famous bright blue light that spans from ultraviolet to X-rays. This discovery, which helps us understand both our origins and the workings of the universe, proves once again that behind every seemingly "calm" glimmer in space, there may lie a story of massive destruction.
