Scientists have been blown away by a recent detection of a gamma-ray burst (GRB), a type of strong cosmic explosion. Despite being over 2 billion light years away from Earth, this GRB was so bright that it blinded space instruments.
The new GRB was first discovered by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in October 2022. Ever since, scientists have been fascinated by the very bright GRB. Usually, GRBs can only be detected for a few milliseconds to a few hours, and even those that last a few seconds can produce as much as energy as the Sun across its entire life. This GRB was detected by spacecraft for 10 hours!
“There is nothing in human experience that comes anywhere remotely close to such an outpouring of energy.” says astrophysicist Dr Dan Perley.
Astronomers now think this GRB is likely the brightest we’ve seen in human history! They believe that it may have been produced by a massive star collapsing on itself to form a black hole.
This recent Gamma Ray Burst may be the brightest ever experienced by humankind
Credit: Wikimedia / International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva Image processing: M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab)
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