It’s the brightest flash of light ever seen by astronomers. It was emitted at a distance of 2.4 billion light-years from Earth, and detected on Sunday October 9 in particular by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, the Swift telescope. Astronomers have discovered that it was a gamma-ray burst, one of the most violent explosions in the Universe. This luminous eruption, named GRB 221009A (GBR is the acronym for Gamma Ray Burst, gamma-ray burst in English), was caused by the birth of a black hole and its residual light continues to be studied.
@smubgobs @Astroguyz @El_Universo_Hoy I observed the optical afterglow of GRB 221009A (Swift J1913.1+1946) using re… https://t.co/DfXgj3CbIC
1/12 It happened last Sunday, at 1:16:59 p.m. Finally, last Sunday, but there are almost 200 million… https://t.co/Sq8L5qt9GB
Scientists estimate that these eruptions, which last several minutes, are caused by the death of giant stars, more than thirty times the size of the Sun, explained to Agence France-Presse (AFP) the astrophysicist Brendan O’ Connor. The star explodes and becomes a supernova, before collapsing in on itself and forming a black hole. Matter then forms a disc around the black hole, is absorbed and released there as energy traveling at 99.99% of the speed of light.
Eighteen teraelectronvolts of energy
The flash released photons carrying 18 teraelectronvolts of energy (an 18 followed by 12 zeros) – a record – and impacted long-wave communications in Earth’s atmosphere. “This breaks records, both in the amount of photons and in the energy of the photons that reach us”explained Brendan O’Connor, who made new observations of the phenomenon, Friday, thanks to the infrared instruments of the telescope of the Gemini South observatory, in Chile. “Something so bright, so close, it really is a once-in-a-century event”added the astrophysicist.
“Gamma-ray flares in general release in a matter of seconds the same amount of energy that our Sun has produced or will produce in its entire lifetime – and this event is the brightest gamma-ray flare… »
Evoking a “adrenaline rush” when these kinds of events occur, Brendan O’Connor, who is affiliated with the University of Maryland and George Washington University, will continue to scan the skies over the next few weeks for the hallmarks of supernovae. in order to confirm their hypotheses on the origin of the flash.