"The Cow": A Mysterious and Unprecedentedly Flat Space Explosion
Astronomers have observed an explosion 180 million light-years away that challenges our current understanding of cosmic explosions, exhibiting a significantly flatter appearance than previously thought possible. The explosion observed was an extremely rare Fast Blue Optical Transient (FBOT) — known colloquially amongst astronomers as “the cow” — only four others have ever been seen, and scientists don’t know how they occur, but this discovery has helped solve part of the puzzle. The explosion, which occurred 180 million light-years away, is the most aspherical ever seen in space, with a shape like a disc emerging a few days after it was discovered. By measuring the polarization, it allowed them to measure the shape of the explosion, effectively seeing something the size of our Solar System but in a galaxy 180 million light years away.