The GRB 221009A range burst deserves the title BOAT, an event that only happens “once every 10,000 years”.
On October 9, 2022, astronomers saw a flash of gamma radiation like no other. In the moment, telescopes around the globe pointed to the distant galaxy responsible for this “gamma burst“. The multitude of data collected around this event just makes it possible to deliver its first conclusions. The opportunity to confirm its absolutely unique nature.
The GRB 221009A range burst deserves the title of BOAT
This flash was so powerful that it had saturated the sensors of the satellites. Quickly, a global alert was launched to observe, both from Earth and in Space, this gamma-ray burst baptized GRB 221009A. And just as quickly, he offers himself the nickname of Brightest of all Time (BOAT).
Three astronomers took the time to decipher the first analyses, published very recently, to the specialized site The research. And according to the researchers, the thing was not easy because “in luminosityé exceptional saturated most of the gamma detectors, so that part of the information relating to this event had to be reconstructed“. To this must be added the difficulty due to the fact that the direction of the burst was in the galactic plane, cluttered with dust and stars, which greatly alters the signal.
The very first detection of a gamma-ray burst dates back to 1967. But since then, this kind of event has remained shrouded in mystery. Over the years, and the detections, we have discovered that these are violent phenomena occurring in all the galaxies around ours. As to why, the most popular theory is an explosion of massive stars – a supernova – which spawns a jet producing a gamma flash and afterglow emissions at all wavelengths.
An event that only happens “once every 10,000 years”
The Hubble telescope was able to photograph the host galaxy of this gamma-ray burst while the European instruments installed on the Very Large Telescope in Chile made it possible to assess its distance: about 1.9 billion light-years. According to the three astrophysicists, “despite this distance, far beyond our galaxy and neighboring galaxies, it is one of the closest gamma-ray bursts ever recorded. Which explains why the explosion was so bright. It is estimated that such gamma-ray bursts, as close and bright, n’take place that’once every ten thousand years.”
So much for the purely observatory part. As for knowing why, as exceptional as this gamma-ray burst may be, its origin is, once again, very mysterious. No instrument has managed to see the supernova that would have given birth to it. However, there is still hope insofar as a large part of the data, Chinese in particular, have not yet delivered all their answers. Who knows, maybe we’ll know more very soon!