Record-Breaking Gamma Ray Burst Reveals New Insights into Cosmic Explosions

In 2022, scientists detected an unprecedented signal from the most powerful cosmic explosion ever observed. This explosion, a gamma-ray burst (GRB), was caused by matter and antimatter colliding and annihilating each other at 99.9% of the speed of light.

GRBs occur when a massive star collapses into a black hole, resulting in jets of energy that shoot through the star’s exterior. If these jets are directed towards Earth, they can be detected by space-based satellites and spacecraft.

The record-breaking GRB, named GRB 221009A and nicknamed the BOAT (Brightest of All Time), was detected on October 9, 2022. It emitted an overwhelming amount of gamma rays, saturating the detectors of NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and other spacecraft.

The detectors temporarily blinked out during the peak of the explosion but resumed function after five minutes, capturing an unusual energy peak of around 12 million electron volts that lasted for about 40 seconds. In comparison, visible light has energy levels between 2 and 3 electron volts.

Maria Edvige Ravasio, an astrophysicist involved in the research, expressed excitement over the discovery, noting it was the first time such a signal had been detected with high confidence. The phenomenon observed involved electrons and positrons annihilating each other, which typically releases energy of about half a million electron volts.

The researchers explained that the extreme energy detected was due to the jets traveling at near-light speed towards Earth, causing a “blueshift” that increased the energy levels into the millions of electron volts.

Study coauthor Om Sharan Salafia highlighted the improbability of the observed feature being a noise fluctuation, reinforcing the significance of the discovery.

The odds were less than one in half a billion, underscoring the robustness of their findings. This discovery could illuminate the chaotic and poorly understood processes within these energetic jets, which have baffled scientists for decades despite numerous detections.

These groundbreaking findings were published on July 25 in the journal Science, offering new insights into the complex and extreme environments associated with gamma-ray bursts. This research marks a significant advancement in our understanding of GRBs, shedding light on the behavior of matter and antimatter at relativistic speeds and contributing to the broader knowledge of cosmic phenomena.