• A mysterious flash of X-rays has been discovered by NASA’s Chandra Observatory in the deepest X-ray image ever obtained.
• This source likely comes from some sort of destructive event, but may be of a variety that scientists have never seen before, NASA said.
• The X-ray source, located in a region of the sky known as the Chandra Deep Field-South (CDF-S), has remarkable properties.
• Two of the three main possibilities to explain the X-ray source invoke gamma-ray burst (GRB) events.
• GRBs are jetted explosions triggered either by the collapse of a massive star or by the merger of a neutron star with another neutron star or a black hole.
• If the jet is pointing towards the Earth, a burst of gamma rays is detected. As the jet expands, it loses energy and produces weaker, more isotropic radiation at X-ray and other wavelengths.
• Possible explanations for the CDF-S X-ray source, according to the researchers, are a GRB that is not pointed towards Earth, or a GRB that lies beyond the small galaxy. A third possibility is that a medium-sized black hole shredded a white dwarf star.
• The CDF-S source is likely associated with the destruction of a neutron star, white dwarf, or massive star, and is roughly 100,000 times more luminous in X-rays.
• It is also located in a much smaller and younger host galaxy, and is only detected during a single, several-hour burst.

Source: The Hindu