Astronomers discover GRB 220706A lasting 27 days, longest observed
Astronomers have discovered a gamma-ray burst (GRB) that kept going for an incredible 27 days, way longer than the previous record of about six days.
The event, called GRB 220706A, was first picked up in July 2022.
Benjamin Gompertz from the University of Birmingham summed it up as "In a nutshell, GRB 220706A is an extremely late X-ray flare," especially because of its unusually long X-ray flares.
Scientists consider magnetar or larger star
Long-duration GRBs happen when huge stars collapse into black holes, but this one stuck around so long that scientists think something different might be going on, maybe a magnetar (a super-magnetic neutron star) or even a much bigger star than we usually see producing GRBs.
Its strange behavior is challenging what we thought we knew about these explosions, and future missions like the Einstein Probe could help solve the mystery.