this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2025
106 points (100.0% liked)

Space

1899 readers
12 users here now

A community to discuss space & astronomy through a STEM lens

Rules

  1. Be respectful and inclusive. This means no harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
  2. Engage in constructive discussions by discussing in good faith.
  3. Foster a continuous learning environment.

Also keep in mind, mander.xyz's rules on politics

Please keep politics to a minimum. When science is the focus, intersection with politics may be tolerated as long as the discussion is constructive and science remains the focus. As a general rule, political content posted directly to the instance’s local communities is discouraged and may be removed. You can of course engage in political discussions in non-local communities.


Related Communities

πŸ”­ Science

πŸš€ Engineering

🌌 Art and Photography


Other Cool Links


founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

A black hole that was eaten by a star seems to have gotten revenge by consuming the star from the inside, producing a gamma-ray burst spotted about 9 billion light-years from Earth.

The burst, called GRB 250702B, was first spotted by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in July. Such bursts are bright flashes caused by jets fired out from energetic events, such as massive stars collapsing into black holes or neutron stars merging, and they usually last no more than a few minutes.

GRB 250702B, however, lasted for 25,000 seconds – or about 7 hours – making it the longest-known gamma-ray burst. Scientists had struggled to explain it, but Eliza Neights at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in the US and her colleagues now suggest an unusual and rare possibility.

top 27 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 29 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

I mean... 7 hours isn't that long. Especially depending on the size of the star that was consumed. Even the Sun's light can take thousands of years to actually exit the sun. While sure, gamma rays should have an easier time exiting a star, 7 hours is still a fucking photograph flash to a stellar event...

(also who ever is surprised a black hole would win against ANY star is either playing a fool or fucking braindead)

[–] Big_Boss_77@lemmynsfw.com 19 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not disagreeing, but you're oddly intense about this... you good champ?

[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 9 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

Saying, "fuck" twice is hardly being intense.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 2 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

Dude you're replying to must think my posts are fucking intense.

[–] BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk 1 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Whoa, chill out there partner.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 1 points 4 weeks ago

THIS PARTY IS FUCKING WILD WOOOOO!

[–] flueterflam@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Even the Sun's light can take thousands of years to actually exit the sun.

The wording is not how light from our sun works... Unless you're simplifying greatly. It's not in a maze or some container that takes thousands of years to escape. The light is based on photons that are emitted via nuclear fusion then some mass being converted to energy/photons.

I've read that photons can bounce around (i.e. be absorbed and re-emitted) an estimated 40,000 years... but we all should understand that is a) an estimate and b) an estimate for the inner-most photons. Photons created via near-surface level areas of the sun may be emitted outward from the sun near-instantaneously.

All this to say that the light/photon(s) don't/doesn't start out as light. However, once a photon exists, it may be trapped for thousands of years due to the shear amount of mass trapping it and needing to be absorbed/re-emitted until space-bound!

[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 8 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Greatly simplifying, yes.

The point is the vast majority of stellar scale events are crazy slow compared to what we'd normally assume, because stars are insanely huge. 7 hours is still a flash in the pan.

The black hole didn't just drop straight in. The sun was undoubtedly orbiting the black hole. It'd take time for the matter to even get close enough. 7 hours sounds crazy fast to me.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 3 points 4 weeks ago

If minutes is normal for a gamma ray burst, hours is an order of magnitude longer. Still, flash in the pan indeed! Lucky we caught it.

[–] tomatoely@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 weeks ago

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in

[–] Thcdenton@lemmy.world 6 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I have dreams of this level of gluttony

[–] Chais@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Very hungry caterpillar?

[–] finitebanjo@piefed.world -1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I guess that implies the force of a black hole is still the strongest that we've observed in the cosmos outside of pure light poles and electromagnetism seen shooting out of them, but it's not so strong that it scales up infinitely.

Or maybe we just managed to see this one event from a good angle.