Astronomers spot cosmic explosion that lasted 27 days

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorAstronomers have spotted a gamma-ray burst that kept flaring for twenty-seven days, far longer than anything of its type on record, Space.com reports.

2. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorTwenty-seven days. These things are meant to be over before you've finished your tea.

3. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe previous record for that kind of late flaring was about six days after the burst.

4. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorSo it didn't beat the record, it flattened it.

5. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorAnd the first burst alone ran fifteen point six hours, Phys.org says, before any of the flaring.

6. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorAnd the twenty-seven days are measured in the burst's own frame. We watched the flaring for about fifty-one.

7. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorFifty-one. Fine print, you see. Even the record needs an asterisk.

8. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe researchers can't fully explain it. One idea is a star about a thousand times the radius of the Sun, according to Starlust.

9. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorAnother involves a magnetar.

10. 

    Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorMy theory is the universe kept the meeting going because nobody wanted to be the one to say the agenda was finished.

11. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorMine is that the lead author called it an extremely late flare. I've sent emails like that. About lunch.