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Department of Physics and Astronomy
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Rutgers Astrophysicist Helps Decode One of the Universe’s Strangest Explosions
(Dec 7, 2025)
Rutgers astrophysicist, Huei Sears, is helping to solve a cosmic puzzle that has astronomers scratching their heads. The mystery centers on a powerful explosion in space that lasted far longer than anything they have seen before. Read more at Rutgers Today
Huei, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, who is studying the explosion using the JWST, says: “This object shows extreme properties that are difficult to explain. Usually, these bursts are over in less than a minute, but GRB 250702B lasted for hours and even showed signs of X-ray activity a day prior.”
Scientists say the best explanation is that it is an extraordinary gamma-ray burst or that it is an extraordinary tidal disruption event, where a middleweight black hole thousands of times heavier than the Sun shredded a star that wandered too close. Another more exotic explanation is that a smaller black hole merged with a stripped-down star called a helium star, devouring it from the inside. But the mystery isn’t solved yet.
