Astronomers have observed the brightest flash of space light ever, emanating 2.4 billion light-years from Earth.
Astronomers believe that this space flash was caused by the birth of a black hole.
The gamma-ray burst, the most intense form of electromagnetic radiation, was first observed by telescopes in orbit around the Earth on October 9.
Its residual light is still being studied by scientists around the world.
Scientists estimate that these explosions, which last for several minutes, are caused by the death of giant stars, the size of which is about 30 times the size of the sun, according to astrophysicist Brendan O’Connor told AFP.
It is noteworthy that the star explodes and turns into a supernova, before collapsing on itself and forming a black hole, then the material forms a disk around the black hole, and it is absorbed and released there in the form of energy that travels at a speed equal to 99.99% of the speed of light.
The flash released photons carrying 18 TeV of energy, i.e. 18 followed by 12 zeros, a record number, 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 Friday 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, as the French agency reported.
The glow, called GRB221009A, was observed on Sunday morning, eastern US time, by several telescopes, many of which belong to the US space agency “NASA”.