Astronomers have recorded unusual explosion of a star

An international team of astronomers for the first time measured the circular polarization in the afterglow of gamma-ray bursts - powerful bursts of radiation emanating from massive dying stars at the moment when they collapse and form a black hole.
Massive star explodes as a supernova , and when it dies, its core collapses into a black hole, explained in a statement on Wednesday , scientists from the Niels Bohr Institute . In rare cases, the jet is formed along the axis of rotation of the black hole , and the processes that occur in this jet , emit gamma radiation in the form of gamma-ray bursts .

As a rule, these bursts are observed only last a few minutes, but after the shock wave collides with the matter surrounding a dying star , it forms what is known as Image Persistence. Afterglow can be observed within a few days after the actual explosion , and experts have previously developed a theoretical model of this process . Nevertheless , the authors of an article published online Wednesday in the journal Nature, found that this afterglow behaves differently than expected.
According to Dr. Peter Curran from Curtin University International Center for Research astronomy (International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research - ICRAR), observations of the GRB 121024A made ​​with the telescope Very Large Telescope (VLT), located in Chile . The study , astronomers discovered that the light of the exploding star was very polarized.


 "Most of the light waves in the natural world unpolarized waves bounce randomly . However , the light from this gamma-ray burst was about 1000 times more polarized than we expected . This means that the assumptions we made ​​on the gamma -ray bursts have to be completely revised , "- explained Dr. Karan in a separate statement .
Gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous objects in the universe. They are able to devote as much energy in a split second as our sun will release over the entire life cycle , explain the study authors .
"Our results suggest that gamma-ray bursts are far more complex event than we previously thought . We can use them to study the electron microscopic and how they behave in extreme conditions at a great distance . In this case , 18 500 million light-years , when the age of our universe was much smaller , "- concluded Dr. Karan .
" Gamma-ray burst itself lasted less than a minute . Subsequent afterglow was relatively bright, which allowed us to examine it using better methods than was previously possible . In particular, we were able to measure the degree of linear and circular polarization for the first two days after the explosion , "- said Professor Johan Finbo center of cosmology at the University of Copenhagen.