ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

GRB 190114C

Okay, little one, let me explain to you something really cool that scientists discovered recently. Do you know that there are huge explosions happening in space that are way more powerful than anything we can imagine on Earth? Those are called gamma-ray bursts or GRBs, and they are one of the biggest mysteries in the universe.

One specific gamma-ray burst named GRB 190114C caught the attention of scientists because it lasted for about a second, which is considered a long time in GRB terms. Scientists used powerful telescopes to observe the burst and they found something interesting - it was accompanied by a bright flash of visible light, much brighter than any other gamma-ray burst we have seen before.

The reason this is important is because gamma-ray bursts usually happen far away from us and are hard to study. But, when accompanied by a visible light flash, it allows us to study the explosion and learn more about the universe. Scientists think this might be because the explosion was caused by the collision of two neutron stars, which are small but very dense stars. These neutron stars collided and merged together, causing a huge explosion that released a lot of energy, including gamma rays and the bright visible light we can see.

Overall, GRB 190114C is an exciting discovery that helps us learn more about the universe and the powerful explosions that happen within it.