Astronomers are worried: a huge wave of “g” rays has penetrated the Earth

An explosion outside the galaxy whose light pierced its interior Solar System Last fall, it was 70 times brighter From any other eruption he noticed Scientists.

According to scientists, he is one gamma ray burst (GRB) commonly known as GRB 221009A where passed through the earth On October 9, 2022 and Saturation of gamma-ray detectors on many space telescopesto earn the title boatmeansThe brightest of all time». The astronomers continued to study the boat using various instruments for several months afterward. It seeks to define the explosion further.

«This is a very terrible explosion. We’ve never seen anything so close yetEric Burns said on Tuesday (March 28). Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Louisiana State Universityduring a press conference at the 20th meeting of the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society in Hawaii.

«BOAT is an event once every 10,000 yearsBurns added. So there is a reasonable chance that this is the case The brightest gamma-ray burst to hit Earth since human civilization began».

What are gamma ray bursts?

GRBs They are the most powerful explosions in the universe. they produce More energy in a few seconds than Earth’s sun will produce in its lifetimelasting 10 billion years.

Astronomers recognize two different categories: Short GRBs, which last about two seconds or less, and long GRBs, which can last for several minutes. Astronomers say the short variety was likely born from the collision of ultra-dense stellar bodies, known as neutron stars. On the other hand, most long-lived black holes are created from black holes that are born when massive stars collapse and die.

«So we have core collapse – this creates a black hole. The black hole is fueled by jets that propagate at just under the speed of lightBurns said.

the GRBs tend to be relatively narrowso most of them They don’t sweep the floor. But these astrophysical events, Although severe, it is common enough to be noticed en masse. Astronomy scientists It has registered about 12,000 GRBs so far Using data collected by instruments such as NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and Konos, a Russian instrument that flies on NASA’s Wind spacecraft, Burns said.

James Webb surveyed the area

The boat was a long grb, so Researchers expect a supernova explosion to occur where it was, about 1.9 billion light-years from Earth. But they haven’t found anything yet, despite searching the area with a file James Webb Space Telescope and space telescope Hubble NASA, along with other agencies.

«If there is, it is very faintAndrew Levan, a professor of astrophysics at Radboud University in the Netherlands, said in a NASA announcement Tuesday (Opens in a new tab). “We plan to continue the search, but it is possible that the entire star collapsed directly into the black hole instead of exploding».

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