Beijing, Bolong.id – Chinese astronomer detects the brightest flash of light ever seen by the monitor telescope.
Reported by ledger, On Sunday (10/16/22), it was monitored by Chinese detectors, the Large High-Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) and the X-ray modulating telescope “Insight” (Insight-HXMT).
Appearance bright flash unusual and durable. It received high-energy radiation from a gamma-ray burst at 9:17 pm. Beijing time October 9, 2022.
Called GRB 221009A, the explosion and its afterglow have been witnessed by scientists around the world.
The signal, coming from the direction of the Sagitta constellation, traveled for about 1.9 billion years to reach Earth, US space agency NASA said.
This is the first time that China has detected a gamma-ray burst with an observatory on Earth and a satellite in orbit at the same time.
The combined application of the three detectors allows for more precise observations in different spectral bands.
Astrophysicist Brendan O’Connor told AFP that gamma-ray bursts lasting hundreds of seconds, such as Sunday’s, are thought to have been caused by the death of a massive star, more than 30 times more massive than the our sun.
“A gamma-ray burst generally releases the same amount of energy that our sun produces throughout its life in a matter of seconds – and this event is the brightest gamma-ray burst.”
The star explodes in a supernova, collapses into the black hole, then matter forms in the disk around the black hole, falls inward, and is ejected in a beam of energy that travels at 99.99% the speed of light.
The flash releases photons that carry a record energy of 18 teraelectron volts – which is 18 with 12 zeros behind it – and has impacted long-wave radio communications in the Earth’s ionosphere.
“This is absolutely record-breaking, both in the number of photons and in the energy of the photons reaching us,” O’Connor said.
Supernova explosions are also thought to be responsible for producing heavy elements – such as gold, platinum, uranium – and astronomers will also be looking for their signatures.
