Astronomers have noticed the brightest flash of light ever, emanating 2.4 billion light-years from Earth, likely from the birth of a black hole.
The gamma-ray burst, the most intense form of electromagnetic radiation, was first observed by telescopes in orbit around the Earth on October 9.
Its residual light is still being studied by scientists around the world.
Giant stars die
In addition, scientists indicate in their estimates that these explosions, which last for several minutes, are caused by the death of giant stars, thirty times the size of the sun, according to astrophysicist Brendan O’Connor told AFP.
He said that the star explodes and turns into a supernova, before collapsing on itself and forming a black hole. Then the material forms a disk around the black hole, and it is absorbed and released there in the form of energy that travels at a speed equal to 99.99% of the speed of light.
Record
The flash released photons carrying 18 TeV of energy (18 followed by 12 zeros), a record high, and affected long-wave communications in the Earth’s atmosphere.
“This breaks records, both in the amount of photons and in the energy of the photons that reach us,” added O’Connor, who provided new observations of the phenomenon Friday using the infrared instruments of the Gemini Southern Observatory telescope in Chile.
once every century
The astrophysicist pointed out that “this bright object, this close, is in fact an event that happens once in a century.” “Gamma rays generally release within seconds the same amount of energy our Sun has produced or will produce in its lifetime. This event is the brightest gamma ray glow ever,” he explained.
The glow, called GRB221009A, was observed on Sunday morning (Eastern Coast Time) by several telescopes, many of which belong to the US space agency (NASA).