Researchers have discovered the cause of the brightest burst of light ever recorded.

But in doing so they have run up against two bigger mysteries, including one that casts doubt on where our heavy elements – like gold – come from.

The burst of light, spotted in 2022, is now known to have had an exploding star at its heart, researchers say.

But that explosion, by itself, would not have been sufficient to have shone so brightly.

And our current theory says that such exploding stars, known as supernovas, also produce all the heavy elements in the universe such as gold and platinum.

But the team found none of these elements, raising new questions about how precious metals are produced.

Prof Catherine Heymans of Edinburgh University and Scotland’s Astronomer Royal, who is independent of the research team, said that results like these help to drive science forward.

“The Universe is an amazing, wonderful and surprising place, and I love the way that it throws these conundrums at us!

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