Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Space

We've spotted the shock wave from an invisible explosion in space

By Leah Crane

5 October 2018

Âé¶¹´«Ã½. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

When a star just can’t take it any more, it can produce a gamma ray burst

Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF

It started with a bang – at least, it must have. Astronomers have spotted a weird radio signal from space that appears to be the shock wave from an enormous explosion, but we never saw the explosion itself.

Casey Law at the University of California Berkeley and his colleagues were comparing two maps of radio wave sources in the sky when they noticed something strange: an object that had been one of the brightest on a map generated in 1993 had faded by a…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with Âé¶¹´«Ã½ events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, today with our introductory offers

or

Existing subscribers

Sign in to your account
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop