A LOONEY STAR
In September 2022, astronomers saw a bright, distant flash of light. This mysterious signal from about 4 billion light-years away was named AT2022tsd and nicknamed the Tasmanian Devil. It was a rare example of a Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transient (LFBOT) — an object that shines in blue light, quickly increasing to its peak brightness before fading away within just a few days. Due to their brevity, only a handful of LFBOTs have been captured since the first detection in 2018.
What separates the Tasmanian Devil from all other LFBOTs is that after astronomers first saw it peak in brightness, it continued to flash more than a dozen times, each time for just minutes. This behavior is leaving astronomers absolutely puzzled, because each time the Tasmanian Devil flashes, it is nearly as bright and as powerful as the initial explosion.
The LFBOT in question was observed by 15 different telescopes and is located about 4.4 billion light-years from Earth. The combined data recorded a minimum of 14 irregular and highly energetic bursts over the course of 120 days. Anna Ho, lead author of the study and assistant professor at Cornell University, stated in a press release that the observed flashes are most likely only a fraction of the total number. Despite the Tasmanian Devil’s unusual behavior pushing the limits of physics, astronomers are hopeful the supernova-like flashes will offer some insight into what’s causing such activity.
Researchers suggest the driving source could be powerful jets from either a black hole or neutron star. One theory suggests the LFBOT’s original flash may have formed such an object, with the subsequent intense flashes caused as material falls inward, with some of it being funneled away by the jets. “We don’t think anything else can make these kinds of flares,” said Ho in a press release. If you’re curious to learn more, the team’s paper was published Nov. 15 in Nature.