<\/figure>\nTO HUMAN eyes, the night sky is serene, save for the moon and a few wandering planets. Peer into space with a telescope that can scan the entire sky in days, however, and it appears as a great cosmic fireworks display \u2013 a riot of bangs and flashes radiating across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to gamma rays.<\/p>\n
Astronomers are eager to catch these fleeting astrophysical phenomena, known as transients, because they can reveal a great deal about the universe, from what matter does in the most extreme conditions to how the cosmos evolved. And we are about to see a lot more of them thanks to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, which is expected to detect 10 million transients a night when it switches on next year.<\/p>\n
The trouble is that, for the untrained observer, it can be difficult to make sense of transients. For starters, similar-looking outbursts can have different origins and vice versa, such that a single source can give rise to a variety of astrophysical signatures. That alone can make it tricky to keep track of what\u2019s what.<\/p>\n
Here, then, is a concise primer that also serves as a guide to the causes and consequences of these ephemeral illuminations \u2013 and how, in some cases, they challenge our understanding of the physics that governs the universe.<\/p>\n
Stellar flares<\/h2>\nA living star\u2019s electromagnetic eruptions<\/h4>\n
Let\u2019s start with an easy one. A stellar flare is an explosion in the atmosphere of a star that results in an intense flash of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum. When our sun flares, for instance, we see a sudden burst of brightness before it quickly\u2026<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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