Astronomers detect echo of powerful cosmic explosion as strong as billions of suns

A core collapse supernova births a black hole and launches a gamma-ray burst. (Image credit: Robert Lea (created with Canva))

doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae4351
Credibility: 989
#GRB

Astronomers have identified the echo of an extremely energetic space explosion that went unnoticed at the time it occurred

It is a burst of gamma rays, one of the most violent phenomena in the universe, with a power equivalent to the emission of about a billion suns.

The initial explosion, which releases an immense amount of energy in the form of high-energy gamma rays in seconds, was not captured by telescopes, probably because the main jet was pointed in a direction that did not reach Earth.

What scientists were able to observe was the so-called “echo” or radio afterglow: the shock wave generated by the explosion that propagated through the surrounding interstellar medium, interacting with the surrounding gas and dust and producing radiation detectable in radio waves.

This radio emission appeared rapidly, reaching an intense brightness equivalent to the total radio output of billions of suns, and then began to slowly diminish over time.

The discovery came from radio observations that revealed unusual behavior: instead of following typical patterns of persistent or common variable sources, the signal perfectly matched the expected profile for the afterglow of a hidden gamma-ray burst.

Researchers traced the origin to a small, bright galaxy located about 1.7 billion light-years away.

This case stands out as one of the clearest examples of “hidden” cosmic explosions, in which the main event escapes direct detection but leaves lasting traces in the environment.

Studies like this help to better understand the nature of these extreme bursts, which are usually associated with the collapse of massive stars or the merger of compact objects, and show how the universe continues to reveal powerful events even when they are not immediately visible.

The research was published in The Astrophysical Journal and demonstrates the value of monitoring the sky at different wavelengths to capture phenomena that would otherwise remain invisible.

Published in 03/23/2026 10h20

Portuguese version

Text adapted by AI (Grok) and translated via Google API in the English version. Images from public image libraries or credits in the caption. Information about DOI, author and institution can be found in the body of the article.

Reference article:

Original study:

{teste}