Transient astrophysical phenomena articles from across Nature Portfolio

Based on physical modelling and using deep-learning tools, a 3D reconstruction of a flare orbiting the black hole Sagittarius A*, at the centre of the Milky Way, provides observational clues to the formation of high-energy flares and the dynamics of black-hole accretion disks.

We report observations of GRB 231115A, positionally coincident with the starburst galaxy M82, that unambiguously qualify this burst as a giant flare from a magnetar, which is a rare explosive event releasing gamma rays.

A three-dimensional reconstruction of a bright flare orbiting the black hole Sagittarius A^* is computationally recovered from ALMA light curve data by constraining a neural network with a gravitational model of black holes.

Analysis of the energy budget of a sample of 54 well-observed stripped-envelope supernovae of all sub-types shows statistically significant, largely model-independent, observational evidence for a non-radioactive power source in most of them.

JWST observations of GRB 221009A reveal the associated supernova, confirming that the GRB resulted from the collapse of a rapidly rotating massive star. The lack of r-process emission suggests that these extreme events are not key sources of the heaviest elements.

A radio-loud magnetar, XTE J1810–197, has been observed to precess shortly after an X-ray outburst. The precession decayed over the subsequent few months, which probably rules out freely precessing magnetars as the source of the fast radio bursts.

Based on physical modelling and using deep-learning tools, a 3D reconstruction of a flare orbiting the black hole Sagittarius A*, at the centre of the Milky Way, provides observational clues to the formation of high-energy flares and the dynamics of black-hole accretion disks.

Binary neutron star mergers are complex to understand astrophysically. A small piece of the puzzle may now have been solved using a computationally intensive simulation to explain how short gamma-ray bursts can be launched by a magnetar engine.

Theories predict that core asphericity must be involved in core-collapse supernova explosions; however, the shape of these explosions has not been directly observed. The distribution of the explosive burning ash has now been revealed using nebular spectroscopy, indicating that a collimated structure is common in many stellar explosions.

Fast radio bursts, arriving at Earth from distant galaxies, usually have durations of a few milliseconds or more. Now, data on a source of repeating fast radio bursts have been revisited, with much higher time resolution than before, and burst signals are seen that last only a few microseconds — showing that the properties of fast radio bursts are more diverse than previously thought.

The BOOTES global network of robotic telescopes is constantly watching the sky for astronomical transients, from its seven locations spread across both hemispheres.