A tremendous cosmic explosion 2.4 billion light years away temporarily changed the electric field in Earth’s ionosphere (the electrically-charged upper layer of our atmosphere that helps shield life ...

See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. A massive gamma-ray burst spotted by scientists last year is possibly ...

When a distant galaxy briefly outshines everything around it in high-energy light, astronomers usually know which playbook to reach for. Gamma-ray bursts tend to fall into familiar categories, either ...

A multi-sensor detection of an intense gamma-ray flash, which occurs when two lightning leaders collided, has been observed. Observations across a wide radiation spectrum enabled precise measurement ...

Last February a team of astronomers reported detecting an afterglow from a mysterious event called a fast radio burst, which would pinpoint the precise position of the burst’s origin, a longstanding ...

Roughly a year ago, astronomers announced that they had observed an object that shouldn’t exist. Like a pulsar, it emitted regularly timed bursts of radio emissions. But unlike a pulsar, those bursts ...

When faraway stars explode, they send out flashes of energy called gamma-ray bursts that are bright enough that telescopes back on Earth can detect them. Studying these pulses, which can also come ...

Osaka, Japan – Lightning is a phenomenon that has fascinated humanity since time immemorial, providing a stark example of the power and unpredictability of the natural world. Although the study of ...