Astronomers have noticed the brightest flash of light ever, emitted at a distance of 2.4 billion light-years from Earth, and it is likely that it was caused by the birth of a black hole.
The gamma-ray burst, the most intense form of electromagnetic radiation, was first detected by telescopes in Earth orbit on October 9.
Its residual light is still being studied by scientists around the world.
Scientists indicate in their estimates that these explosions, which last for several minutes, are caused by the death of giant stars, 30 times the size of the sun, according to Brendan O’Connor, an astrophysicist for the French agency.
The star explodes and transforms into a supernova, before collapsing in on itself and forming a black hole. The matter then forms a disk around the black hole, and is absorbed and released there as energy that travels at 99.99 percent of the speed of light.
The flash released photons carrying 18 TeV of energy (18 followed by 12 zeros), a record high, and affected long-wave communications in the Earth’s atmosphere.
“This breaks records, both in the amount of photons and in the energy of the photons that reach us,” said Brendan O’Connor, who provided new observations of the phenomenon using the infrared instruments of the Gemini Southern Observatory telescope in Chile.
The astrophysicist added, “This bright object, this close, is in fact a once-in-a-century event.”
“Gamma rays generally release within seconds the same amount of energy our Sun has produced or will produce over its lifetime. This event is the brightest gamma ray glow ever,” he explained.
