{"id":583435,"date":"2026-02-12T00:42:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T00:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/583435\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T00:42:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T00:42:14","slug":"what-are-grbs-a-nasa-researcher-explains-these-strange-space-signals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/583435\/","title":{"rendered":"What are GRBs? A NASA researcher explains these strange space signals"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are those who like to point out that we know more about space than<\/a> the ocean <\/a>, stoking a feeling of existential dread that we inhabit the same planet as one of the greatest unknowable entities around<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, that\u2019s not to say space <\/a>isn\u2019t full of mysteries. Like these weird signals <\/a>that\u2019ve had scientists scratching their heads for decades. <\/p>\n

Daily Galaxy reports<\/a> how an insanely strong signal blasting toward Earth has been drawing the attention astrophysicists from all over. Specifically the fact it\u2019s last over seven hours, the most intense duration any signal of its kind has last.<\/p>\n

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center researcher, Eliza Neights, explained to BBC Sky at Night Magazine <\/a>that these signals are what\u2019re known as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), a form of radiation that initially baffled the scientific community. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are two processes that are known to lead to GRBs,\u201d Neights explained. \u201cMost originate from the collapse of a rapidly rotating, massive star. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese stars collapse into compact objects, probably black holes, which form powerful jets.\u201d <\/p>\n

These bursts can also be formed \u201cwhen two neutron stars \u2014 very dense stellar remnants \u2014 are orbiting each other and then merge,\u201d Neights continued. This also produces that compact, jet-producing object. <\/p>\n

Neights states that this long-lasting GRB \u2014 now called \u201cGRB 250702B\u201d \u2014 was so notably exceptional because previously-detect GRBs weren\u2019t known to last more than just a few minutes. <\/p>\n

\u201cGRB 250702B\u2019s duration cannot be explained by the known origins of GRBs \u2014 it needs a novel physical explanation,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

As for what the alternative explanations may be, well, the answer might lay in black holes. Neights confirmed that more research \u2014 as gleaned by a gamma-ray telescope that should be launched next year \u2013 is needed for more concrete conclusions to be drawn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are those who like to point out that we know more about space than the ocean ,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":583436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8],"tags":[8058,252895,11769,252896,45482,202437,173649,181666,34007,107865,149639,159,783,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-583435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-artwork","tag-beams","tag-collision","tag-cosmological","tag-cosmology","tag-gamma-ray-burst","tag-grb","tag-jet","tag-jets","tag-pulse","tag-remnant","tag-science","tag-space","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116054887732641359","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}