NASA detects brightest gamma-ray burst of all time, it's 70 times brighter than previous record holder

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has detected the brightest gamma-rayburst of all time. In a statement issued last Thursday (June 8),NASA said, "When scientists detected the gamma-ray burst known as GRB 221009A on Oct. 9, 2022, they dubbed it the brightest of all time, or BOAT." Citing follow-up studies, NASA said the GRB 221009A is 70 times brighter and far more energetic than the previous record holder.

While scientists don’t yet understand why, they received a tantalizing clue from NASA’s NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) observatory. According to a study published in the journal Science Advances, scientists used NuSTAR observations of the event to show how the collapsing star ejected a jet of material that had a shape not previously observed among gamma-ray burst jets, as well as other unique characteristics.

The source of these distinctions may be the progenitor star, the study said, adding it is also possible that an entirely different mechanism launches the very brightest jets into space.

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'Event so much brighter than any gamma-rayburst'

Brendan O’Connor, the lead author of the study said the October 9, 2022 event was so much brighter and more energetic than any gamma-ray burst seen before. “Then, when we analyzed the NuSTAR data, we realized that it also has this unique jet structure. And that was really exciting because we have no way of studying the star that produced this event; it’s gone now. But we now have some data giving us clues about how it exploded,” O'Connor, an astronomer at George Washington University, added.

What are gamma rays?

Gamma rays are high-energy photons that are produced by some of the most violent events in the universe. They are the most energetic form of light in the universe yet invisible to the human eye. All known gamma-ray bursts have originated in galaxies outside our Milky Way but are bright enough to be spotted billions of light-years away, as per NASA.

"Some blink into existence and last less than two seconds, while so-called long gamma-ray bursts typically radiate gamma rays for a minute or more. These objects can radiate other wavelengths for weeks," the American space agency added.

Details about the GRB 221009A

NASA said in the statement that the GRB 221009A- a long gamma-ray burst- was so bright that it effectively blinded most gamma-ray instruments in space. American scientists were able to reconstruct the event with data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope to determine its actual brightness.

"Similar to other gamma-ray bursts, GRB 221009A had a jet that erupted from the collapsing star like it was shot into space from a fire hose, with gamma rays radiating from the hot gas and particles at the jet’s core," the statement said.

However, GRB 221009A's jet stood out in a few ways. NASA said that in just about every previously observed gamma-ray burst, the jet remained remarkably compact and there was little to no stray light or material outside the narrow beam. The jet had a narrow core with wider, sloping sides.

The jet from the BOAT was unique in one important way- the energy of the material in GRB 221009A also varied, meaning that instead of all the material in the jet having the same energy, the energy of the material changed with distance from the jet’s core, NASA further said and highlighted this had never been observed in a long gamma-ray burst jet earlier.

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