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an unusual Outburst about 1 billion

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light years away right here has rocked

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scientists understanding of the

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some of these are the source of heavy

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elements in the cosmos like gold

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for decades scientists have divided

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these explosions called gamma-ray bursts

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into two groups long and short grbs

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long bursts produce a flare of gamma

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rays the highest energy form of light

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that lasts two or more seconds

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they're thought to be caused by the

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black holes forming at the center of

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massive collapsing stars and are

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short bursts on the other hand last less

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than two seconds and are likely caused

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by neutron star mergers and are followed

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by flares of visible and infrared light

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but a recent event has scientists

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rethinking these categories

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on December 11 2021 NASA's Swift and

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Fermi telescopes observed a 50-second

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long gamma-ray burst followed by the

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clear signs of a kill Anova

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it's called grb 211211a

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it was later studied by the Hubble Space

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Telescope along with a number of other

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observatories

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scientists don't yet know how a burst

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caused by a neutron star merger produced

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maybe instead of two neutron stars one

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kill anovae are a known source of heavy

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elements like iodine which was essential

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for the development of life on Earth

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but scientists thought that they were

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only associated with short bursts

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grb

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211211a shows for the first time that

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kilanova can accompany both long and

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short bursts

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after 50 years of studying these events