This illustration depicts GRB 250702B, an exceptional gamma-ray burst that was discovered in an extremely dusty galaxy in 2025. This intense beam of gamma rays is unusual in many ways, and researchers are still puzzling over what could have caused it. Recently, researchers showed how a white dwarf — the core of a dead star — being peeled apart by a black hole could have caused this extreme gamma-ray burst. To learn more about this study, you can read our AAS Nova highlight or check out the original research article in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. [NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Garlick; CC BY 4.0]