How well do we understand the Universe if we struggle to understand its most energetic events? This question can trigger a wide-ranging philosophical or even epistemological discussion. It's the kind of question that can bring the Universe's most mysterious incidents into the foreground of busy lives.

While the Big Bang is, without a doubt, the most energy-dense event in the Universe's history, there are other energetic events that lack clear causes. Scientists have a pretty clear theoretical framework for the Big Bang, but when it comes to Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB), our understanding of them is lacking. Unlike the Big Bang, which happened more than 13 billion years ago, GRBs are happening right now, yet scientists don't have a clear understanding of their underlying physics.

Usually in science, discovering more examples of a class of objects leads to greater understanding. However, that may not be the case when it comes to the most recently detected GRB. It's unlike any previous GRB that scientists have encountered.

The new GRB is called GRB 250702B and it was discovered on July 2nd, when the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope detected it and sent out an alert. But this detection was different. Rather than a single burst, there were three separate bursts over a nearly day-long period.

GRBs are extremely energetic explosions, the most energetic in the Universe, and they usually last only milliseconds, or sometimes several minutes. They're likely caused by massive stellar explosions or by supermassive black holes tearing huge stars apart. But this GRB's multiple bursts, that span almost an entire day, set it apart from other GRBs. In a press release, Martin-Carrillo said that the GRB is "unlike any other seen in 50-years of GRB observations." Lead author Levan also pointed out how unusual this GRB is. "This is 100-1000 times longer than most GRBs,” he said.