A Mysterious “Tasmanian Devil” LFBOT in Space Defies the Laws of Physics
Astronomers are scratching their heads after witnessing a bizarre event in space – an LFBOT (Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transient) named AT2022tsd, also known as the “Tasmanian Devil”, that seems to defy the laws of physics.
LFBOTs are already known to be extremely bright explosions in space, emitting more energy than hundreds of billions of stars like our own. However, AT2022tsd has left scientists baffled by its unprecedented behavior. Unlike any other LFBOT observed before, this one seemed to come back to life, emitting intense bursts of light repeatedly over several months.
The most peculiar aspect of AT2022tsd is not only the intensity of its initial explosion, but its ability to evolve and produce multiple flares, lasting over a hundred days. The phenomenon is much more intense than another similar LFBOT that made headlines when it was discovered: AT2018cow aka “The Cow.”
Scientists are considering various possible power sources for AT2022tsd, among them supermassive black holes, newborn neutron stars, or accretion onto a stellar-mass or intermediate-mass compact object. It was determined that the phenomenon could possibly be the result of tidal disruption, which occurs when a star is shredded by a black hole’s tidal forces.
The extraordinary amount of energy emitted by AT2022tsd and the sustained shorter bursts are challenging the limits of physics, leaving researchers puzzled about the source of the phenomenon.
A team of international researchers recently published a study on AT2022tsd in Nature, suggesting a common origin with other known powerful LFBOTs such as AT2018cow. The study also mentioned that the multiwavelength properties of AT2022tsd were most similar to those of AT2018cow-like transients.
The discovery of AT2022tsd raises many questions and challenges our understanding of physics. The search for answers to this extraordinary event in space continues as scientists delve deeper into the mysterious and powerful phenomenon.
Citation: Nature, 2023. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06673-6