An international scientific team, led by a researcher from the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) and the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC), has managed to detect an exceptionally fast and bright cosmic burst in a small galaxy located 500 million light years away.
Using the telescopes of the MAGIC collaboration, scientists have detected very-high-energy gamma rays from the nova eruption of the RS Ophiuchi recurrent nova on the Milky Way. The measured radiation is up to one hundred billion times more energetic than visible light. This is the first time such intense gamma rays have been observed from a nova. The observations provide new insights into the role of nova eruptions as sources of the mysterious cosmic rays.
Radio observations made by Metsähovi, Finland’s only astronomical radio observatory, and Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) in California have revealed that radiation from the remote PKS 2131-021 quasar is subject to periodic variation. Researchers at the University of Turku participated in the analysis of the observational data.