Artwork depicting a cataclysmic astronomical even called a fast blue optical transient (FBOT). These are epic explosions on a par with supernovae, kilonovae or gamma-ray bursts, but their rise to maximum brightness and their subsequent decline are much faster and concentrated in the blue part of the optical spectrum. Nobody is entirely sure what causes these events but they may be an exotic type of supernova. The image here represents an FBOT that was found in intergalactic space, not within a galaxy. Two nearby galaxies are shown