The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recorded the most powerful gamma-ray burst in history. The GRB 221009A event has been nicknamed BOAT (The brightest of all time).

What is known

The event was recorded on October 9, 2022. The strongest gamma-ray burst blinded all telescopes on Earth and in space, except for one. It is believed that GRB 221009A is 1000 times more intense than typical gamma-ray bursts and turned out to be 70 times more powerful than the previous record holder.

Scientists suggest that such outbreaks occur about 1 time in 10,000 years. In total, over the entire observation period, researchers were able to record 12,000 gamma-ray bursts.

Information about GRB 221009A was obtained thanks to the Chinese orbital telescope GECAM-C. He was able to resist the flash as nearly all of his sensors were disabled. If you draw a parallel, it’s like squinting and looking at the Sun.

Scientists claim that the beam turned out to be very narrow – 0.7 degrees with a normal rate of 5 degrees. This information will allow updating models for studying supernovae, which turn into black holes, since these processes are accompanied by gamma-ray bursts.

Although GRB 221009A is the brightest burst, it did not become the most powerful in terms of energy release. This may seem counterintuitive, but for us, the flash was the brightest, since it was directed towards the Earth. By the way, the gamma-ray burst itself occurred 2 billion years ago.

Source: NASA