Astronomers with help of the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array (VLA) were able to find the missing link between supernova explosions that generate gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).

Scientists found that a stellar explosion that was seen in 2012 had several characteristics similar to that of a supernova that generates strong gamma rays.

Sayan Chakraborti, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), stated that the recent findings give a striking result that provides a key insight about the mechanism underlying such explosions.

“This object fills in a gap between GRBs and other supernovae of this type, showing us that a wide range of activity is possible in such blasts”, according to a joint press release from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the CfA.

As per experts, the supernova like Supernova 2012ap (SN 2012ap), takes place when the nuclear fusion reactions at the core of a very massive star no longer provide the energy which is needed to hold up the core against the weight of the outer parts of the star.

The core then gets collapsed into a super dense neutron star or a black hole. The rest of the star’s material is blasted into space in a supernova explosion.

The most common type of such a supernova blasts the star’s material outward in a spherical bubble that expands rapidly, but at a comparably less speed than that of light. Experts said that such supernova explosions produce no burst of gamma rays.

But Alicia Soderberg, also of CfA said Supernova 2012ap had jets moving at nearly the speed of light, and those jets slowed down quickly.

Chakraborti furthermore said what they see is that there is a wide diversity in the engines in this type of supernova explosion. Supernova with strong engines and lighter particles produce gamma-ray bursts, and those with weaker engines and heavier particles do not emit gamma rays.