It was one of the brightest cosmic events ever captured.
Scientists have revealed how NASA devices detected the brightest gamma-ray burst ever.
GRB’s explosion occurred 2 billion light years from Earth And it lit up much of our galaxy.
Images of the rare and powerful cosmic phenomenon show a halo and halo-like shapes that call the “bull’s eye” target.
Experts, including academics at the University of Leicester in the UK, say the GRB was 10 times brighter than anything previously discovered.
They published a detailed analysis of the powerful explosion that was detected on October 9, 2022.
It’s officially named GRB 221009A, but has been dubbed BOAT by those on NASA’s Swift team.
“We were very lucky to see something like this. We appreciate such bright events It occurs about once every 1,000 yearssaid Phil Evans, an X-ray astronomer who was involved in the work.
“By studying the evolution of the amazingly bright GRB in great detail, we can learn a lot about blast wave physics,” he continued.
“Just as slow motion images reveal details about movements, breaking our data down into small chunks allows us to see and learn more about how the GRB is changing.”
The Swift team said the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a satellite telescope designed to study GRBs from space, was initially unable to monitor the explosion because its view was obstructed by Earth.
However, 55 minutes later, when the satellite’s orbit allowed it a clear view of the GRB, its systems successfully detected it and took pictures of it.
What are gamma ray bursts?
gamma ray bursts It is the most violent explosion in the universewhich releases more energy than the sun will emit in 10 billion years.
They are the result of catastrophic supernova explosions in which massive stars die. Studies show that they occur when a black hole forms from an extremely powerful type of supernova.
First, this hole creates a magnetic field that controls the jets of energy emission. Then, as that magnetic field gets smaller, matter takes over and dominates these jets.
Previously, energy was thought to be governed by one of two things, but recent studies have shown that both magnetic field and energy play an essential role.
The first GRB missile was detected in the late 1960s by a satellite attempting to reveal the Soviet Union’s violations of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Since then, thousands have been seen by various gadgets.
Dr Andy Bidmore, who is also part of Swift’s team at the University of Leicester, said: “These patterns are not only beautiful, they are also scientifically useful“.
“We are seeing a large amount of dust in our galaxy illuminated by the intense burst of light from the GRB, 2 billion light-years away, which is like a flame shining through a cloud,” he explained.
Bidmore continued that experts now have the opportunity to study the nature and composition of this dust, which was detected at great distances from the Sun.
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