![\"Luminous](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/luminous-fast-blue-optical-transients.png\")
<\/p>\nResearchers have been left stunned after detecting eerie blue flashes emerging from the depths of space.<\/p>\n
The strange phenomena, known as Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients (LFBOTs), are among the rarest cosmic events ever recorded, with just 14 detected since they were first identified in 2018.<\/p>\n
These violent flashes can shine up to 100 times brighter than a typical supernova, yet unlike normal stellar explosions they reach peak brightness and vanish again within just days.<\/p>\n
They also remain an intense blue colour throughout, suggesting they stay extraordinarily hot from beginning to end.<\/p>\n
Dr Anya Nugent from the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said the bizarre events are “unlike anything we have observed before.”<\/p>\n
Now, scientists believe they may finally be closing in on what causes the unsettling cosmic bursts.<\/p>\n
Researchers think the eerie flashes could be triggered when ultradense objects such as black holes or neutron stars violently collide with massive Wolf-Rayet stars – rare, extremely luminous stars that have already shed their hydrogen outer layers.<\/p>\n
The process is believed to begin in binary star systems, where two huge stars orbit one another.<\/p>\n
These violent flashes can shine up to 100 times brighter than a typical supernova<\/p>\n
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INTERNATIONAL GEMINI OBSERVATORY <\/p>\n
Over time, one star strips away the outer layers of its companion, eventually exposing its blazing helium core as a Wolf-Rayet star.<\/p>\n
The larger star then collapses in a supernova, leaving behind either a black hole or neutron star.<\/p>\n
That stellar remnant can continue feeding on its companion before eventually plunging into its core – unleashing the spectacular blue flash.<\/p>\n
Professor Brian Metzger of Columbia University told the Daily Mail: “When the compact object plunges into the Wolf-Rayet star, it can rapidly accrete the stellar [material] and release a huge amount of gravitational energy.<\/p>\n
![\"Wolf-Rayet](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/wolf-rayet-star.webp\")
One star strips away the outer layers of its companion over time, eventually exposing its blazing helium core as a Wolf-Rayet star<\/p>\n
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NASA\/ESA<\/p>\n
“Some of that energy drives powerful outflows or jets, which then collide with material around the star. <\/p>\n
“That interaction can produce a very hot, bright flash of light on a short timescale.”<\/p>\n
Wolf-Rayet stars may be uniquely suited to producing these events because their hydrogen-free makeup matches the unusual signatures astronomers have observed.<\/p>\n
Prof Metzger added: “They can also have dense material around them from earlier episodes of mass loss, which gives the explosion something to crash into and helps power the observed emission.’<\/p>\n
![\"Luminous](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/luminous-fast-blue-optical-transients.jpg\")
Now, scientists believe they may finally be closing in on what causes the unsettling cosmic bursts<\/p>\n
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NASA<\/p>\n
The theory could explain another major mystery – why many of the blue flashes appear in the distant outer edges of galaxies, sometimes tens of thousands of light-years from galactic centres.<\/p>\n
Scientists believe previous supernova blasts may have hurled these binary systems far into deep space.<\/p>\n
Although researchers caution more data is needed, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory\u2019s upcoming decade-long survey is expected to dramatically improve understanding of these bizarre deep-space events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers have been left stunned after detecting eerie blue flashes emerging from the depths of space. The strange…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[270],"tags":[18,19,17,5,133,63657,451],"class_list":["post-490065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-science","tag-sgg","tag-space"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116593632532470695","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}