Astronomers using the Australian SKA Pathfinder have detected a powerful cosmic explosion 1.7 billion light-years away — a rare “orphan afterglow” from a gamma-ray burst whose initial flash missed Earth.

This lingering radio signal offers new insight into hidden high-energy events, possibly from a collapsing star or even a star torn apart by an intermediate-mass black hole. The discovery demonstrates how wide-field radio surveys are uncovering the universe’s most elusive cosmic transients.

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