The most powerful space explosion ever seen keeps baffling astronomers

1 year ago 40

Space

A gamma ray burst observed in 2022 was brighter than any explosion ever spotted before, and follow-up observations are threatening to break our understanding of how these blasts work

By Leah Crane

The most powerful explosion ever seen may break our understanding of how these cosmic cataclysms, called long gamma ray bursts (GRBs), work. The burst was spotted in October 2022, and it is proving difficult to explain despite continued observations and analyses by researchers around the world.

When the burst, called GRB221009A, was spotted, astronomers dubbed it “the BOAT” – the brightest of all time. Eric Burns at Louisiana State University and his colleagues compared it with other GRBs and found that events this bright probably only …

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