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LiveScience
LiveScience
Skyler Ware

China's Einstein Probe detected a mysterious cosmic explosion — and scientists have no idea what caused it

An illustration of the Einstein Probe against a purple deep space background.

China's Einstein Probe has spotted a cosmic explosion from a mysterious source that's unlike anything seen before.

The burst was made up of two X-ray flares, about 200 seconds apart, that likely came from the same object. Their behavior is most consistent with powerful cosmic explosions known as gamma ray bursts — except no gamma rays were detected, scientists reported June 13 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

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