By Aazam
October 16, 2022
An extremely intense and persistent pulse of high-energy radiation that passed over Earth on Sunday, October 9, has enthralled astronomers all across the world
The source of the emission was a gamma-ray burst, the most potent class of explosions in the universe and one of the brightest occurrences ever recorded
Observations are still being made at the location by telescopes from all around the world
The explosion, known as GRB 221009A, gave the 10th Fermi Symposium, a gathering of gamma-ray astronomers currently taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa, an unexpectedly exhilarating start
The signal, which came from the direction of the constellation Sagitta, traveled to Earth over the course of almost 1.9 billion years
As the jets fly into space and puncture through the star, they produce X-rays and gamma rays
The burst gave NASA's NICER X-ray telescope and a Japanese detector dubbed the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image their first chance to observe together
This ancient explosion's light sheds new light on star collapse, the genesis of a black hole, the behavior of matter near the speed of light, and more
Fermi's LAT detected the burst for almost 10 hours, according to a preliminary investigation. The burst's brightness and duration may be due to its proximity