Overview

Astronomers have been left astounded by a powerful cosmic explosion that has resulted in the strongest flash of light ever recorded. Such a massive blast is referred to as a gamma-ray burst (GRB) and is considered the most powerful of all cosmic explosions.

The massive explosion that occurred on October 9 set in motion a gigantic wave of X-rays and gamma rays that entered the solar system that was picked up by observatories and telescopes around the world, including NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, and Wind spacecraft.

The science and other stuff to know

Astronomers studying the flash of light said the signal was directed from the constellation Sagitta and estimated it to be at least 1.9 billion years old, according to a NASA press release. Called GRB 221009A, the flash could represent “the birth cry of a new black hole, one that formed in the heart of a massive star collapsing under its own weight. In these circumstances, a nascent black hole drives powerful jets of particles traveling near the speed of light. The jets pierce through the star, emitting X-rays and gamma rays as they stream into space,” wrote Francis Reddy of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

The flash of light also provided the inaugural exchange between NASA’s NICER X-ray telescope and Japanese detector named MAXI. MAXI alerts NICER about such outbursts through a link called Orbiting High-energy Monitor Alert Network (OHMAN).

The OHMAN link took three hours to divert NICER in this instance, but scientists say the time could come down to a few minutes in the future.

So what?

NASA’s Fermi’s Large Area Telescope (LAT) recorded the flash for over 10 hours. Scientists said the flash remained visible for an extended time as was “relatively close to us”.

“This burst is much closer than typical GRBs, which is exciting because it allows us to detect many details that otherwise would be too faint to see,” Roberta Pillera, a Fermi LAT Collaboration member, said. “But it’s also among the most energetic and luminous bursts ever seen regardless of distance, making it doubly exciting.”

What’s next?

The GRB of such a massive explosion might not occur for decades, astronomers believe, so the recordings and evidence provide critical inputs for expanding the length and breadth of the study of the universe. The light from this ancient explosion sheds new light on stellar collapse, the genesis of a black hole, the behavior and interaction of matter at near-light speeds, the conditions in a distant galaxy, and much more.