Astronomers puzzled by repeating gamma ray bursts outside Milky Way

By Dean Murray

Astronomers are puzzled after detecting a mysterious repeating series of gamma-ray bursts outside our galaxy.

The unknown phenomenon repeated several times over the course of a day, an event unlike anything ever witnessed before.

The finding is intriguing, as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) indicate the catastrophic destruction of stars lasting milliseconds to minutes and so should not repeat, or last a day as this one did.

As the most energetic explosions in the universe , they can mean massive stars dying in powerful blasts or being ripped apart by black holes , among other events.

The source of the powerful radiation was discovered to be outside our Milky Way , its location pinpointed by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT).

The Europe