AT 2018 COW
(Redirected from AT2018COW)
AT 2018 COW was a short-lived astronomical phenomenon now known as a fast blue optical transient.[1][2][3][4][5][6] It was detected in 2018 and, for ten days, it was ten times brighter than a typical supernova. As of 2026[update] half a dozen similar phenomenon have been observed.
On explanation for these transient phenomenon is that Astronomers are seeing supermassive black holes, like the one at the centre of the Milky Way, our galaxy, absorbing a star.[1][2][3][4][5][6] As of 2026[update] approximately half a dozen other fast blue optical transients have been observed.
An analysis, published in 2019, suggested that the star being torn apart was a dense white dwarf, a star that was already very small, because its nuclear fusion had ceased.[7] According to that analysis it takes longer to absorb a physically larger star.
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1
Claudia Gutiérrez; Seppo Mattila; Peter Lundqvist; Luc Dessart; Santiago González-Gaitán; Peter Jonker; Subo Dong; Deanna Coppejans; Ping Chen; Panagiotis Charalampopoulos; Nancy Elias-Rosa; Tom Reynolds; Christopher Kochanek; Morgan Fraser; Andrea Pastorello; Mariusz Gromadzki; Jack Neustadt; Stefano Benetti; Erkki Kankare; Tuomas Kangas; Rubina Kotak; Maxmilian Stritzinger; Thomas Wevers; Bing Zhang; David Bersier; Subhash Bose; David Buckley; Raya Dastidar; Anjasha Gangopadhyay; Aleksandra Hamanowicz; Juna Kollmeier; Jirong Mao; Stephen Potter; Encarni Romero-Colmenero; Mridweeka Singh; Auni Somero; Giacomo Terreran; Petri Vaisanen; Lukasz Wyrzykowski (2024-02-07). "A luminous, fast blue optical transient from a stellar tidal disruption event by an intermediate-mass black hole". Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3911460/v1. Cite journal requires
|journal=(help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ↑ 2.0 2.1
Jeanette Kazmiercza (2019-01-10). "Holy Cow! Mysterious Blast Studied with NASA Telescopes". NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Archived from the original on 2026-07-24. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
A brief and unusual flash spotted in the night sky on June 16, 2018, puzzled astronomers and astrophysicists across the globe. The event - called AT2018cow and nicknamed "the Cow" after the coincidental final letters in its official name - is unlike any celestial outburst ever seen before, prompting multiple theories about its source.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1
Sonja Panjkov (2025-01-30). "Is AT2018cow the Black Sheep of Transient Astronomy?". astrobites. Archived from the original on 2025-05-19. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
AT2018cow, or ‘The Cow’, is not your typical transient, such as a supernova, fast radio burst, or tidal disruption event, but lies in a class of its own, known as luminous fast blue optical transients, or LFBOTs for short. While the spectra of LFBOTs may look similar to supernovae, their light curves, which track luminosity or brightness as a function of time, fade much faster, making the precise mechanism behind this peculiar class of transient unclear.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1
Anton Petrov (2023-04-13). "Something Powerful Exploded Over and Over Again and It Makes No Sense" (video). What da math. Retrieved 2026-08-06 – via YouTube.
My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about an unexplained repeating explosion called FBOT (Fast Blue Optical Transient) that has no explanation.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1
Anton Petrov (2023-04-13). "Major Discovery About Mysterious FBOT Supernova" (video). What da math. Retrieved 2026-08-06 – via YouTube.
My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about new discoveries about mysteries FBOTs.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1
Anton Petrov (2026-08-04). "What are FBOTs? The Mysterious Cosmic Explosions Rewriting Astronomy" (video). What da math. Retrieved 2026-08-06 – via YouTube.
My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about FBOT explosions and why they make no sense
- ↑
"New hypothesis on mysterious 'Cow' super bright star". UCL News. 2019-01-11. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
Lead author Dr Paul Kuin, an astrophysicist at UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL), said: “The Cow produced a large cloud of debris in a very short time. A larger, less dense star like the Sun would need a larger black hole and would be shredded on a longer time scale — the black hole would have more time to consume the material.”