A strange flash in a distant galaxy first looked like a familiar kind of stellar wreckage, the radioactive afterglow of colliding neutron stars known as a kilonova. Then it brightened again, shifted ...

Astronomers have spotted the longest gamma-ray burst ever seen, a cosmic explosion that lasted seven hours — and they determined it could be the work of a black hole destroying a star. Gamma-ray ...

Scientists may have to rethink their playbook for studying gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful known cosmic explosions, after a blast detected in July set a new record by firing energetic jets for ...

A space explosion detected this summer burned for days on end, making it the longest and most unusual gamma-ray burst ever seen. Gamma-ray bursts are the universe’s most powerful explosions. They ...

Artist's rendition of GRB 250702B's ultra-relativistic jet (moving at nearly the speed of light) escaping from its dusty, massive host galaxy. Astronomers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel ...

Most gamma-ray bursts—the brightest, most powerful explosions in the universe—are tracked back to the deaths of massive stars. But a new discovery suggests that such enormous explosions can come from ...