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A gamma-ray burst (GRB)– the most energetic kind of surge in deep space because the Big Bang– is identified as soon as every day, typically. What took place on July 2, 2025, was extremely uncommon: NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, which has actually been orbiting Earth because 2008, tape-recorded an uncommonly long-lived GRB that continued producing in bursts for more than 7 hours.The occasion, called GRB 250702B, was the longest-duration gamma-ray burst ever taped. Astronomers now believe it originated from a formerly unseen or uncommon kind of surge that released a narrow jet of product in the instructions of the planetary system, taking a trip a minimum of 99% the speed of light

GRB 250702B was hard to find out. Scientists utilized all type of telescopes to track its origin in all wavelengths of light, consisting of the twin 8.1-meter Gemini telescopes in Chile and Hawaii, the Very Large Telescope in Chile, the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, and the Hubble Space Telescope.

GRBs originate from the depths of deep space; even the closest one came from more than 100 million light-years away, according to NASAGRB 250702B originated from a huge galaxy 8 billion light-years far-off that, seriously, is so dirty that it obstructed all noticeable light.

The only light found by telescopes was infrared and high-energy X-ray wavelengths. Due to thick dust in its host galaxy, the GRB was nearly undetectable in regular noticeable light, the scientists reported in a research study released Nov. 26 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

In October, the infrared James Webb Space Telescope zoomed in on GRB 250702B’s host galaxy, using the clearest view. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, H. Sears (Rutgers). Image processing: A. Pagan (STScI))”This was the longest gamma-ray burst that humans have observed — long enough that it does not fit into any of our existing models for what causes gamma-ray bursts,” Jonathan Carneylead author of the research study and doctoral trainee in physics and astronomy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, stated in a declaration

Analysis reveals that GRB 250702B might have been brought on by the death of a huge star, a star being ripped apart by a great void, or the merger of a helium star and a great void, where the great void spirals into the core of the huge star, setting off a surge from within.

“But we can’t yet tell which explanation is correct,” Carney stated. “In the future, this event will serve as a unique benchmark — when astronomers discover similar explosions, they’ll ask whether they match GRB 250702B’s properties or represent something different entirely.”

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Jamie Carter is an independent reporter and routine Live Science factor based in Cardiff, U.K. He is the author of A Stargazing Program For Beginners and lectures on astronomy and the natural world. Jamie routinely composes for Space.com, TechRadar.com, Forbes Science, BBC Wildlife publication and Scientific American, and numerous others. He modifies WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com.

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