Free Astronomy Magazine March-April 2026

40 ASTRO PUBLISHING few seconds to minutes. But on 2 July 2025, astronomers were alerted to a GRB source that was exhibiting repeating bursts and would end up lasting over seven hours. This event, dubbed GRB 250702B, is the longest MARCH-APRIL 2026 G amma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the most powerful ex- plosions in the Universe, sec- ond only to the Big Bang. The majority of these bursts are ob- served to flash and fade within a The origin of the longest gamma-ray burst ever observed by NOIRLab, Jonathan Carney, Josie Fenske gamma-ray burst humans have ever witnessed. GRB 250702B was first identified by NASA’s Fermi Gamma- ray Space Telescope (Fermi). Shortly after space-based telescopes de- tected the initial bursts in gamma-