- In astronomy, a ‘transient’ is any celestial object whose brightness changes in short periods.
- The Indian-American astronomer Shrinivas Kulkarni was awarded the Shaw Prize for Astronomy in 2024 for his work on the physics of astronomical transients.
- One of the most well-known transients is supernovae.Many a supernova has been known to become so bright that it emits light more intensely than the stars in the rest of its host galaxy combined.
- Another famous transient is the active galactic nucleus (AGN). The centres of massive galaxies host supermassive black holes which feast on matter in their orbit. Interactions between the black holes and the matter in this process cause the latter to acquire energy and glow with changing brightness.
- In 2007, astronomers discovered a mysterious new transient called a fast radio burst (FRB), they can emit more than 10 times as much energy as the Sun in a few milliseconds.
Dig Deeper: Read more about Blackholes and Fast Radio Bursts.
