A groundbreaking discovery has been made by an international team of astronomers, led by researchers from the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) and the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC). They have detected an extraordinarily rapid and luminous cosmic explosion, designated as CSS161010, from a distant galaxy approximately 500 million light-years away. This significant finding was published in The Astrophysical Journal.

What sets the CSS161010 burst apart is its astonishing behavior; it achieved peak brightness within just four days and diminished to half its initial brightness in a mere 2.5 days. This unprecedented rapid evolution presented both an exciting challenge and a remarkable opportunity for the research team, helmed by Dr. Claudia Gutiérrez.

The cosmic outburst was initially spotted by the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey, with a previous signal detected by the All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae. The follow-up observations, crucial for characterizing the event, were conducted using advanced telescopes, including the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), located at the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma.

Studying these quickly evolving cosmic phenomena has traditionally posed significant difficulties, but advancements in observational technology have enabled researchers to obtain high-resolution images and enhanced fields of view. To date, only about a dozen cosmic events with similar brightness and rapid evolution have been recorded, and their true origins remain elusive. Nevertheless, Dr. Gutiérrez and her team believe they may have cracked the code, suggesting that CSS161010 is the result of a small black hole consuming a star.

This theory stems from their findings of broad hydrogen lines shifting at remarkable speeds—up to 10% of the speed of light. Two months following the burst, the brightness had plunged by a staggering 900 times from its zenith. Even more extraordinary, the spectra obtained from the Gran Telescopio Canarias revealed that the hydrogen lines remained blueshifted, indicating a powerful gas outflow—an unexpected characteristic not typical of supernovae.

Dr. Gutiérrez expressed her astonishment: "When we analyzed the spectra, we were at a loss for words. The sheer blueshift we observed in the hydrogen lines was unprecedented, suggesting that the gas was racing toward us at incredible speeds. This discovery was both unexpected and fascinating, leading us to further explore its connection with the originating galaxy."

The event occurred in a minute galaxy, containing a star mass nearly 400 times less than that of our Milky Way. If this galaxy is indeed home to a massive black hole, it must be of a relatively small size, indicative of an intermediate-mass black hole, estimated to be between 100 to 100,000 solar masses.

Professor Seppo Mattila from the University of Turku, Finland, emphasized the importance of this discovery: "Intermediate-mass black holes have been exceptionally hard to pinpoint, with astronomers having identified only a handful of confirmed cases. Understanding these black holes is crucial for piecing together the evolutionary history of black holes throughout the cosmos."

In a striking parallel, Professor Peter Lundqvist from Stockholm University remarked on the similarity of line emissions from CSS161010 and those observed in active galactic nuclei, where supermassive black holes are commonly found. "This resemblance provides compelling evidence for the presence of a black hole in CSS161010, albeit a smaller one," he noted.

As researchers continue to analyze episodic events like CSS161010, they are poised to deepen their understanding of the black hole population lurking in dwarf galaxies. Tracking such phenomena may unlock more secrets about the fundamental processes shaping our universe. Who knows what other cosmic wonders await discovery in the vast cosmic theater? Stay tuned for more thrilling updates from the frontier of astrophysics!