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Recorded the most powerful burst of energy in space in the time of observation

22.10.2022

Scientists have recorded an unprecedented burst of gamma rays (GRB), which at some wavelengths looked brighter than any similar burst of energy observed before. The burst was named GRB 221009A and was first detected by the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope, a joint project between NASA and the US Department of Energy, as well as the space agencies of France, Italy, Japan and Sweden.

Gamma-ray bursts are large-scale cosmic bursts of gamma rays in the electromagnetic spectrum that can result from various phenomena, such as the death of large stars. Such events are the brightest electromagnetic events in the Universe. The recent gamma-ray burst recorded on October 9 was reported by NASA scientists working with the Fermi Gamma Ray Telescope and the Neil Gerels Swift Space Observatory.

Astronomer Phil Evans of the University of Leicester said the latest gamma-ray burst "is clearly the brightest GRB we've seen in X-rays."

"The new GRB 221009A is about 1000 times brighter than a typical GRB and several hundred times brighter than the brightest previously observed, but this is only true for X-rays. In gamma rays, it is one of the brightest GRBs ever observed." Evans said.

The gamma-ray burst detector housed in the structure of the Fermi telescope is the most prolific GRB detector. On average, it captures one gamma-ray burst per day and has collected data from thousands of such events over about 14 years of operation. "Of the thousands, the October 9 flare was by far the brightest," said Markos Santander, an astronomer at the University of Alabama. He noted that the flash was so strong that it "blinded the instruments for a while."

Probably, GRB 221009A marks the energetic death of a massive star and its subsequent transformation into a black hole. The event is unparalleled at some wavelengths, in part because it happened about 2 billion light-years from Earth. Despite the fact that the distance seems huge, for gamma-ray bursts it is not. Scientists intend to continue studying this phenomenon to understand why the birth of a distant black hole gave rise to such a dazzling cosmic "fireworks".

"The key scientific point here is that we are looking at really extreme physical phenomena - very strong gravity, large masses moving at very high speeds and extremely hot - conditions that cannot be created in the laboratory. The only way to begin to understand this is to study extreme astronomical events such as GRB," says Phil Evans.

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