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Novel discovery: Astronomers have identified a completely new, fourth mechanism by which a star or its remnant can be destroyed in the Universe.
Collision course: The star's spectacular demise is believed to be caused by a merger or collision of dense stellar remnants, such as white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes
GRB origin: This unusual event was discovered while scientists were studying the afterglow of a powerful, long-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) detected on 19 October 2019
Core location: Observations pinpointed the collision's location to a dense region less than 100 lightyears from the supermassive black hole at the centre of an ancient galaxy
Gemini confirmation: The Gemini South telescope was instrumental in analysing the GRB's fading light, allowing researchers to accurately determine the source's position and environment
Ancient evidence: The discovery provides direct evidence that compact stellar objects within ancient galactic cores are driven by gravity to inevitably collide near the central black hole
Scientific pathways: This new pathway for stellar death is distinct from the two most common GRB sources: the explosion of a massive star (supernova) or the collision of two neutron stars
Lead findings: The results of the investigation, which confirmed the new collision pathway, were published in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy
Future waves: Understanding this mechanism is crucial for anticipating and locating unexpected sources of massive explosions that produce detectable gravitational waves
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