Morgan McFall-Johnsen
Tue, October 18, 2022
An illustration shows a black hole driving powerful jets of particles traveling near the speed of light.NASA/Swift/Cruz deWilde
NASA space telescopes detected the brightest explosion ever recorded.
Astronomers think the bright burst came from a dying star collapsing and forming a new black hole.
Images show the faint object erupting with powerful gamma rays.
NASA telescopes have detected the brightest, most high-energy flood of radiation from space ever recorded.
About 1.9 billion years ago, a dying star collapsed, exploding in a powerful burst of gamma rays that careened toward Earth. Finally, they washed over our planet on October 9. They set off detectors on three telescopes in orbit: the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, and the Wind spacecraft.
Swift’s X-Ray Telescope captured the afterglow of GRB 221009A about an hour after it was first detected. The bright rings form as a result of X-rays scattered by otherwise unobservable dust layers within our galaxy that lie in the direction of the burst.NASA/Swift/A. Beardmore (University of Leicester)
Those telescopes, and other observatories around the world, quickly homed in on the source of the radiation: a distant object now called GRB 221009A, pulsing with the powerful glow of its gamma-ray emissions.
It was the most luminous, powerful event ever detected, NASA announced on Thursday. The telescopes' images show just how dramatic the explosion was.
Images taken in visible light by Swift’s Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope show how the afterglow of GRB 221009A (circled) faded over the course of about 10 hours.NASA/Swift/B. Cenko
"In our research group, we've been referring to this burst as the 'BOAT', or Brightest Of All Time, because when you look at the thousands of bursts gamma-ray telescopes have been detecting since the 1990s, this one stands apart," Jillian Rastinejad, a PhD student at Northwestern University, said in a statement.
This sequence constructed from 10 hours of Fermi Large Area Telescope data reveals the sky in gamma rays centered on the location of GRB 221009A. Brighter colors indicate a stronger gamma-ray signal.NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration
Rastinejad led a group of researchers who conducted follow-up observations on Friday, taking more measurements as the gamma rays continued to flood past Earth.
The radiation probably came from a supernova explosion — a dying star collapsing into a black hole. It could be decades before another gamma-ray burst this bright appears again.
"It's a very unique event," Yvette Cendes, an astronomer and postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Mashable, adding that a giant gamma-ray burst in a galaxy so close to us is "incredibly, incredibly rare."
"It's the equivalent of getting front row seats at a fireworks show," she said.
The sheer power and brightness of the ancient explosion allows astronomers to collect lots of data on it, which could reveal new insights about how stars die, how black holes form, and how matter behaves near the speed of light, as it's ejected from a supernova. It helps that the object is relatively close to us, compared to other gamma-ray bursts astronomers have detected.
That proximity "allows us to detect many details that otherwise would be too faint to see," Roberta Pillera, a Fermi LAT Collaboration member who led initial communications about the burst, said in a NASA statement. "But it's also among the most energetic and luminous bursts ever seen regardless of distance, making it doubly exciting."
‘Most powerful explosion ever’ detected by telescopes
Rob Waugh
·Contributor
Mon, October 17, 2022
The gamma ray burst was picked up by multiple telescopes. (NSF's NOIRLab)
Astronomers have spotted a record-breaking gamma ray burst, the most energetic type of electromagnetic explosion in the universe.
The explosion, in a distant galaxy 2.4 billion light-years from Earth, represents the collapse of a star many times the mass of our Sun, scientists believe.
The collapse of the star has launched an extremely powerful supernova and gives birth to a black hole.
Gamma-Ray Burst GRB221009A was first detected on 9 October by orbiting X-ray and gamma-ray telescopes.
Read more: What are fast radio bursts, and why do they look like aliens?
The titanic cosmic explosion triggered a burst of activity from astronomers around the world as they raced to study the aftermath from what is one of the nearest and possibly the most-energetic gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever observed.
Just-released observations by two independent teams using the Gemini South telescope in Chile – one of the twin telescopes of the International Gemini Observatory operated by NSF's NOIRLab – targeted the bright, glowing remains of the explosion.
The GRB, identified as GRB 221009A, occurred in the direction of the constellation Sagitta.
The teams now have access to both datasets for their analyses of this energetic and evolving event.
"The exceptionally long GRB 221009A is the brightest GRB ever recorded and its afterglow is smashing all records at all wavelengths," O'Connor said. "Because this burst is so bright and also nearby, we think this is a once-in-a-century opportunity to address some of the most fundamental questions regarding these explosions, from the formation of black holes to tests of dark matter models."
Read more: Telescope detects 100 mysterious radio signals from billions of light years away
Gemini chief scientist Janice Lee said: "The agility and responsiveness of Gemini's infrastructure and staff are hallmarks of our observatory and have made our telescopes go-to resources for astronomers studying transient events."
Already communications have gone out to fellow astronomers through the Nasa Gamma-Ray Coordinates Network, the archive of which is now filling up with reports from around the world.
"In our research group, we've been referring to this burst as the 'BOAT', or Brightest Of All Time, because when you look at the thousands of bursts gamma-ray telescopes have been detecting since the 1990s, this one stands apart," Rastinejad said.
"Gemini's sensitivity and diverse instrument suite will help us to observe GRB221009A's optical counterparts to much later times than most ground-based telescopes can observe. This will help us understand what made this gamma-ray burst so uniquely bright and energetic."
When black holes form, they drive powerful jets of particles that are accelerated to nearly the speed of light.
These jets then piece through what remains of the progenitor star, emitting X-rays and gamma-rays as they stream into space.
If these jets are pointed in the general direction of Earth, they are observed as bright flashes of X-rays and gamma-rays.
Another gamma-ray burst this bright may not appear for decades or even centuries.
There are also extraordinary reports of disturbances in the Earth's ionosphere affecting long wave radio transmissions from the energetic radiation from the GRB221009A event.
Scientists are also wondering how very-high-energy 18 TeV (tera-electron-volt) photons observed with the Chinese Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory could defy our standard understanding of physics and survive their 2.4 billion year journey to Earth.
"The Gemini observations will allow us to utilise this nearby event to the fullest and seek out the signatures of heavy elements formed and ejected in the massive star collapse," O'Connor said.
Rob Waugh
·Contributor
Mon, October 17, 2022
The gamma ray burst was picked up by multiple telescopes. (NSF's NOIRLab)
Astronomers have spotted a record-breaking gamma ray burst, the most energetic type of electromagnetic explosion in the universe.
The explosion, in a distant galaxy 2.4 billion light-years from Earth, represents the collapse of a star many times the mass of our Sun, scientists believe.
The collapse of the star has launched an extremely powerful supernova and gives birth to a black hole.
Gamma-Ray Burst GRB221009A was first detected on 9 October by orbiting X-ray and gamma-ray telescopes.
Read more: What are fast radio bursts, and why do they look like aliens?
The titanic cosmic explosion triggered a burst of activity from astronomers around the world as they raced to study the aftermath from what is one of the nearest and possibly the most-energetic gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever observed.
Just-released observations by two independent teams using the Gemini South telescope in Chile – one of the twin telescopes of the International Gemini Observatory operated by NSF's NOIRLab – targeted the bright, glowing remains of the explosion.
The GRB, identified as GRB 221009A, occurred in the direction of the constellation Sagitta.
The teams now have access to both datasets for their analyses of this energetic and evolving event.
"The exceptionally long GRB 221009A is the brightest GRB ever recorded and its afterglow is smashing all records at all wavelengths," O'Connor said. "Because this burst is so bright and also nearby, we think this is a once-in-a-century opportunity to address some of the most fundamental questions regarding these explosions, from the formation of black holes to tests of dark matter models."
Read more: Telescope detects 100 mysterious radio signals from billions of light years away
Gemini chief scientist Janice Lee said: "The agility and responsiveness of Gemini's infrastructure and staff are hallmarks of our observatory and have made our telescopes go-to resources for astronomers studying transient events."
Already communications have gone out to fellow astronomers through the Nasa Gamma-Ray Coordinates Network, the archive of which is now filling up with reports from around the world.
"In our research group, we've been referring to this burst as the 'BOAT', or Brightest Of All Time, because when you look at the thousands of bursts gamma-ray telescopes have been detecting since the 1990s, this one stands apart," Rastinejad said.
"Gemini's sensitivity and diverse instrument suite will help us to observe GRB221009A's optical counterparts to much later times than most ground-based telescopes can observe. This will help us understand what made this gamma-ray burst so uniquely bright and energetic."
When black holes form, they drive powerful jets of particles that are accelerated to nearly the speed of light.
These jets then piece through what remains of the progenitor star, emitting X-rays and gamma-rays as they stream into space.
If these jets are pointed in the general direction of Earth, they are observed as bright flashes of X-rays and gamma-rays.
Another gamma-ray burst this bright may not appear for decades or even centuries.
There are also extraordinary reports of disturbances in the Earth's ionosphere affecting long wave radio transmissions from the energetic radiation from the GRB221009A event.
Scientists are also wondering how very-high-energy 18 TeV (tera-electron-volt) photons observed with the Chinese Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory could defy our standard understanding of physics and survive their 2.4 billion year journey to Earth.
"The Gemini observations will allow us to utilise this nearby event to the fullest and seek out the signatures of heavy elements formed and ejected in the massive star collapse," O'Connor said.
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