The Universe Has a Pressure Cooker, and It Makes Black Holes

For the first time, astronomers have observed chaos in the center of an ancient galaxy, the sort of place where a million or more stars are locked in a dance of death.

By Matt Hrodey
Jun 23, 2023 3:30 PM
Star annihilation
Two compact objects collided in a distant galactic center, releasing a gamma ray burst. (Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLAB/NSF/AURA/M. Garlick/M. Zamani)

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The brightest outpourings of energy in the universe are gamma ray bursts. They are typically born as stars or other objects collapse into black holes and send out blasts of high-energy photons billions of light years across the universe.

Most commonly, the collapsing objects are massive stars that have burned through their nuclear fuel and imploded, causing gamma rays to shoot out in opposing directions.

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