{
  "id": 11050752,
  "title": "Mysterious Cosmic Flashes Could Be Linked to a Neutron Star Merger",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/mysterious-cosmic-flashes-could-be-linked-to-a-neutron-star-merger",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-30T23:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Discover Magazine",
    "slug": "discover-magazine",
    "url": "https://www.discovermagazine.com/mysterious-cosmic-flashes-could-be-linked-to-a-neutron-star-merger-49753"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Graduate student Niccolò Passaleva made headlines when two neutron stars collided. On his way home, Passaleva, who works with Professor Eleonora Troja's research group, seized the opportunity to commandeer a large telescope from his laptop. The team, supported by the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator grant, recently discovered that neutron star mergers may also appear as X-ray flashes lasting several minutes. Passaleva led follow-up observations using the VLT in Chile, noting it was the longest-lasting prompt X-ray flash ever observed from a neutron star merger. This discovery could help reveal how often neutron star mergers create magnetars, ultra-dense stellar corpses with rapidly spinning neutron stars and immense magnetic fields.",
  "summary": "Learn more about magnetars and how they may also form from two colliding neutron stars.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}