Record Gamma-Ray Burst: 7 Hours of Invisible Light ⚡ экспресс
The longest gamma-ray burst (a powerful cosmic explosion) has been discovered — GRB 250702B lasted almost 7 hours. Its properties (hard spectrum, sub-second variability, high energy) point to an ultra-relativistic jet from a rapidly spinning central engine. These data rule out nearly all known models. A natural explanation is the helium star merger model: a black hole falls into a star stripped of its hydrogen envelope and detonates it from within. This links ultra-long gamma-ray bursts to gravitational wave sources and rare supernovae.
A cosmic searchlight blazed for almost 7 hours—usually these flashes die out in seconds. Astronomers recorded the record-breaking gamma-ray burst GRB 250702B: its beam, made of the most energetic radiation, flickered and carried colossal energy. The source was a superheated jet, accelerated to nearly the speed of light—as if the searchlight were powered by a titanic accelerator. But old models couldn't explain such a long runtime. The solution came from a 'helium merger' scenario: a black hole plunged into a star almost entirely composed of helium and depleted of hydrogen. Once inside, the hole spun up the star and started devouring it from within, blasting out energy—the searchlight switched on at full blast. The star perished not in an ordinary stellar explosion (supernova), but with monstrous gamma radiation, simultaneously creating gravitational waves—ripples in space itself. The discovery links ultra-long bursts with the mightiest explosions of massive stars and shows that helium stars can swell before death. An unexpected twist: a black hole the size of a city powered a searchlight that outshone an entire galaxy.
🎯 The burst’s energy was so enormous that for those 7 hours, it outshone all the stars in its galaxy combined.