NewsAstronomyA cosmic Platypus might link two astronomical mysteriesThe flash of light might also offer insight into the origins of supermassive black holes Astronomers dont know what causes bright cosmic explosions called luminous fast-blue optical transients, or LFBOTs (one illustrated). A new cosmic burst suggests at least some might be from a mid-sized black hole ripping up a star.NASA, ESA, NSF's NOIRLab, Mark Garlick , Mahdi ZamaniBy Lisa Grossman36 seconds agoNATIONAL HARBOR, MD. A bright blip in a distant galaxy may link two mysterious categories of cosmic flares. The event, which astronomers playfully call the Platypus, could also offer a new way to understand the origins of supermassive black holes that reside at the centers of most galaxies.The brilliant burst, spotted in a dwarf galaxy about 6.5 billion light-years from Earth, has many of the hallmarks of a tidal disruption event, the final flash of a star being ripped apart by a black hole. But it also resembles another type of flash, dubbed an LFBOT, which astronomers think might be a class of exploding star.