Mysterious Cosmic Detonations  is the title of an article in the latest issue of  Scientific American  and the first one was named "the Cow." In 2018 a massive cosmic explosion made its way to us as a bright flash of blue, from a later-designated AT2018cow portion of the sky.  Thus, "the Cow." More scientifically, this outburst is now called a  Fast Blue Optical Transient  ( FBOT ). Initially there was some belief it was a supernova. Since then a few more have been found. But exactly what has confounded astrophysicists. How does a Cow compare with a  gamma-ray burst  ( GRB ) or a supernova? GRBs  were discovered serendipitously in 1967 by Air Force satellite Velas on the lookout for Soviet  nuclear testing violations. The satellites also carry a gamma-ray detector because nuclear explosions produce gamma rays.  But this glaring light came from outer space beyond our universe. This was the mystery of those days until scientists deter...

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