Brightest gamma-ray burst ever seen a 1-in-10,000-years event that's 'absolutely monstrous,' scienti

Brightest gamma-ray burst ever seen a 1-in-10,000-years event that's 'absolutely monstrous,' scientists say

By Mike Wall published about 8 hours ago

'There's a reasonable chance this is the brightest gamma-ray burst to hit Earth since human civilization began.'



The Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 revealed the infrared afterglow (circled) of the BOAT GRB and its host galaxy, seen nearly edge-on as a sliver of light extending to the burst's upper right. This composite incorporates images taken on Nov. 8 and Dec. 4, 2022, one and two months after the eruption. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, A. Levan (Radboud University); Image Processing: Gladys Kober)

An extragalactic outburst whose light hurtled through the inner solar system last fall was 70 times brighter than any other such eruption that scientists have observed, researchers report.

Radiation from the explosion — a gamma-ray burst (GRB) known as GRB 221009A — swept over Earth on Oct. 9, 2022. It saturated gamma-ray detectors on multiple space telescopes, earning the nickname the BOAT, short for "brightest of all time."

Astronomers continued studying the BOAT with a variety of instruments for several months afterward, seeking to characterize the explosion further. And those efforts have only added to the BOAT's legend.

"It is just an absolutely monstrous burst. It is extremely extraordinary; we've never seen anything remotely close to it," Eric Burns, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Louisiana State University, said Tuesday (March 28) during a press conference at the 20th meeting of the American Astronomical Society's High Energy Astrophysics Division in Hawaii.

More:
https://www.space.com/brightest-gamma-ray-burst-ever-results