Astronomers have provided vital information in the global effort to understand GRB 221009A, one of the nearest and possibly the most-energetic gamma-ray burst ever observed.
GRB 221009A, a gamma-ray burst detected on October 9, 2022, is one of the nearest and possibly the most-energetic gamma-ray burst ever observed.
Dubbed as BOAT (brightest of all time), it occurred approximately 2.4 billion light-years away in the direction of the constellation Sagitta and was likely triggered by a supernova explosion giving birth to a black hole.
“The exceptional brightness of this gamma-ray burst meant astronomers were able to study it in unprecedented detail in real-time as the light arrived from that distant galaxy,” said James Leung, a Ph.D. student at the University of Sydney.
“This gave us a golden opportunity to test intricate physical models that describe what happens before, during and after the death of a star.”
“While that’s a bit of an exaggeration, GRB 221009A was likely the brightest burst at X-ray and gamma-ray energies to occur since human civilization began,” said Dr. Eric Burns, an astronomer at Louisiana State University.
GRB 221009A was so bright it blinded most gamma-ray instruments in space, which meant they could not measure the real intensity of the emission.
And while the energy from this gamma ray burst was not unusually large, the jets of energy were exceptionally narrow with one pointed directly at Earth, making it appear exceptionally bright.
In a new paper, the astronomers present radio follow-up observations of GRB 221009A with the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Large Array (AMI-LA) and Allen Telescope Array (ATA).
“One of the fascinating things about gamma ray bursts is, although they are over quite quickly — in just a matter of seconds — they leave afterglow emissions across the light spectrum in surrounding matter that echo for months and years afterwards,” said Professor Tara Murphy, an astronomer at the University…
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