Mysterious ‘Tasmanian devil’ space explosion baffles astronomers

Astronomers have observed an unprecedented space explosion that, months after the initial event, briefly flared at peak brightness more than a dozen times. Nicknamed the Tasmanian devil, it is one of several similar events whose cause remains unknown. The phenomena could be failed supernovae — massive stars that run out of fuel and collapse into a dense neutron star or a black hole before they can explode. The flashes could be caused by powerful jets of energy firing from their poles.