The 3C 66A and 3C 66B distant galaxies seem to be harboring a very potent source of gamma-rays, an international team of scientists has recently announced, after a high-energy gamma-ray burst (GRB) was discovered by the MAGIC telescope in La Palma, the Canary Islands. The research team, which has involved several groups in Spain, says that the find has been unexpected, and that it has had to come up with three different hypotheses in order to be able to explain why the GRB occurred.

As evidenced by a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the MAGIC telescope, which is located at the Roque de los Muchachos observatory, studied the 3C 66A galaxy region extensively. Although it can be found some 3 billion light-years away from Earth, the formation has proven to be very interesting to follow, and careful observations have yielded the fact that the galaxy emits GRB as strong as over 150 billion electron volts.

One of the researchers that have participated in the new study, Institut de Física d'Altes Energies (IFAE) astronomer Errando Manel, explains that GRBs of such intensity only occur after devastating cosmic events, such as the explosion of a supernova, or a strong emission coming from a supermassive black hole. He argues that these very strong radiations “are a type of extremely high energy light which rarely occurs in nature.”

The first theory to explain this awkward occurrence is that the 3C 66A quasar itself has chemical properties different from those estimated so far, or that the galaxy altogether is closer to our solar system than previous observations considered. Another explanation would be that the emissions actually come from another star system, just three million light-years away, designated 3C 66B.

“If confirmed that the 3C 66B galaxy is the source, it would only be the second radio galaxy observed to date that emits VHE gamma rays, and these types of galaxies would be established as a new source of emission of very high energy gamma rays,” Complutense University of Madrid (CUM) High Energy Group astronomer Maria Victoria Fonseca tells SINC. She has also been a member of the team studying the new GRB events.

The only satisfying solution to this mystery is to have other Earth- and orbit-based observatories take a look at the distant galaxy, using all the light specters available. Such rigorous scans may finally yield a satisfactory explanation for this high-energy GRB.