GRB 221009A also known as Swift J1913.1+1946 was an unusually bright and long-lasting

gamma-ray burst In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are immensely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most energetic and luminous electromagnetic events since the Big Bang. Bursts can last from ten milli ...

(GRB) jointly discovered by the

Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, previously called the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer, is a NASA three-telescope space observatory for studying gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and monitoring the afterglow in X-ray, and UV/Visible light at the location o ...

and the

Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST, also FGRST), formerly called the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), is a space observatory being used to perform gamma-ray astronomy observations from low Earth orbit. Its main instrument is ...

on October 9, 2022. The gamma-ray burst lasted for more than ten hours since detection, and could briefly be observed by amateur astronomers. This is also one of the closest gamma-ray bursts and is among the most energetic and luminous bursts. It is a rare opportunity for researchers to study it and events like it in detail. GRB 221009A came from the constellation of

Sagitta Sagitta is a dim but distinctive constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for 'arrow', not to be confused with the significantly larger constellation Sagittarius 'the archer'. It was included among the 48 constellations listed by t ...

and occurred an estimated 1.9 billion years ago, at a distance of 2.4 billion light-years away from Earth. The burst oversaturated the

, which captured photons whose energies exceeded 100 GeV. The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) in China saw 5,000 high-energy photons. (For comparison, in the entire history of the study of gamma-ray bursts, astronomers have detected only hundreds of these.) Some photons even carried a record 18 TeV of energy, which is more than can be produced at the

Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundred ...

(LHC) at the European Center for Nuclear Research (

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

). Russia's Carpet-2 facility may have recorded a single 251-TeV photon from this burst. This event could help physicists study how matter interacts at relativistic speeds, and potentially physics beyond the Standard Model. GRB 221009A could be caused by a dying massive star undergoing a supernova, or the birth of a black hole. Some physicists speculate that such exceptionally high-energy photons could come from new physics involving dark matter,

axions An axion () is a hypothetical elementary particle postulated by the Peccei–Quinn theory in 1977 to resolve the strong CP problem in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). If axions exist and have low mass within a specific range, they are of interes ...

or decaying

sterile neutrinos Sterile neutrinos (or inert neutrinos) are hypothetical particles (neutral leptons – neutrinos) that are believed to interact only via gravity and not via any of the other fundamental interactions of the Standard Model. The term ''sterile neutrin ...

. Lightning detectors in India and Germany picked up signs of Earth's

ionosphere The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an ...

being perturbed for several hours by the burst, though only mildly. Some astronomers referred to the burst as the "brightest of all time", or "BOAT". The afterglow at X-ray energies is a hundreds of times brighter than seen before. GRB 221009A was subsequently observed by the

Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer The Neutron Star Interior Composition ExploreR (NICER) is a NASA telescope on the International Space Station, designed and dedicated to the study of the extraordinary gravitational, electromagnetic, and nuclear physics environments embodied by ...

(NICER), the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI), the

Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, commonly known as IXPE or SMEX-14, is a space observatory with three identical telescopes designed to measure the polarization of cosmic X-rays of black holes, neutron stars, and pulsars. The observatory ...

(IXPE), the International Gamma-ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL), the

XMM-Newton ''XMM-Newton'', also known as the High Throughput X-ray Spectroscopy Mission and the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission, is an X-ray space observatory launched by the European Space Agency in December 1999 on an Ariane 5 rocket. It is the second cornerst ...

space telescope, and many others.

Gallery

File:Record-breaking Gamma-Ray Burst Caught With Gemini.jpg, alt=Near-simultaneous observations were made of GRB221009A from Gemini South in Chile. The image is a combination of 4 exposures in I, J,H, K with two instruments taken in the morning of Friday October 14, 2022., Near-simultaneous observations were made of GRB221009A from Gemini South in Chile. The image is a combination of 4 exposures in I, J,H, K with two instruments taken in the morning of Friday, October 14, 2022.

References

{{2022 in space Gamma-ray bursts Astronomical objects discovered in 2022

Gallery

See also

References