Record-breaking gamma-ray burst, possibly the most powerful explosion ever recorded

In the early morning hours of today, October 14, 2022, astronomers using the Gemini South telescope in Chile, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, observed the unprecedented aftermath of one of the most powerful explosions ever recorded, gamma-ray burst GRB221009A. First spotted by orbiting X-ray and gamma-ray telescopes on October 9, 2022, this record-breaking event occurred 2.4 billion light-years from Earth and was likely triggered by a supernova explosion that created a black hole.

A gigantic cosmic explosion sparked a surge in activity among astronomers around the world as they study the aftermath of one of the closest, and possibly most energetic, gamma-ray bursts (GRB) ever observed. Just released observations by two independent teams using the Gemini South telescope in Chile — one of the International Gemini Observatory’s twin telescopes operated by NSF’s NOIRLab — targeted the bright, glowing remnant of the explosion that likely heralded a supernova, the one Birth brought forth black hole.

The GRB, identified as GRB 221009A, occurred about 2.4 billion light-years away towards the constellation Sagitta. It was first spotted on the morning of October 9 by X-ray and gamma-ray space telescopes, including NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, Neil Gehrel’s Swift Observatory, and the Wind spacecraft.

As word of this discovery spread quickly, two teams of astronomers worked closely with Gemini South collaborators to obtain the earliest possible observations of the afterglow from this historic explosion.

Two imaging observations from Rapid Target of Opportunity in the early hours of Friday, October 14th [1] were conducted by two independent teams of observers led by graduate students Brendan O’Connor (University of Maryland/George Washington University) and Jillian Rastinejad (Northwestern University). The observations were made a few minutes apart. The first observation was made with the FLAMINGOS-2 instrument, a near-infrared imaging spectrograph. The other observation used the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS).

The teams now have access to both sets of data for their analysis of this energetic and evolving event.

“The exceptionally long GRB 221009A is the brightest GRB ever recorded and its afterglow breaks all records at all wavelengths.‘ said O’Connor. “Because this burst is so bright and so close, we think this is a unique opportunity to answer some of the most fundamental questions about these explosions, from black hole formation to testing dark matter models.”

Thanks to the quick response of observers and collaborators, combined with the use of Gemini Director’s Discretionary Time and efficient data reduction software such as Gemini’s DRAGONS “FIRE” (Fast Initial Reduction Engine), this image was created quickly after the observations.

“The agility and responsiveness of Gemini’s infrastructure and staff are hallmarks of our observatory and have made our telescopes the resource of choice for astronomers studying transient events.‘ said Gemini chief scientist Janice Lee.

Communications have already been sent out to other astronomers via the NASA Gamma-ray Coordinates Network [2], whose archive is now filled with reports from all over the world. Astronomers believe this represents the collapse of a star many times the mass of our Sun, which in turn triggers an extremely powerful supernova and creates a black hole 2.4 billion light-years from Earth.

“In our research group, we refer to this outburst as the “BOAT,” or brightest of all time, because when you look at the thousands of outbursts that gamma-ray telescopes have detected since the 1990s, this one stands out‘ said Rastinejad. “Gemini’s sensitivity and diverse instrumentation will help us observe GRB221009A’s optical counterparts at much later times than most ground-based telescopes can observe. This will help us understand what made this gamma-ray burst so uniquely bright and energetic.“

As black holes form, they propel powerful jets of particles that are accelerated to nearly the speed of light. These jets then pierce through the remains of the progenitor star, emitting X-rays and gamma rays as they pour into space. When directed in the general direction of Earth, these jets are observed as bright flashes of X-rays and gamma rays.

Another gamma-ray burst of this magnitude may not occur for decades or even centuries, and the case is still evolving. Of note are other extraordinary reports of disturbances in the Earth’s ionosphere affecting longwave radio transmissions from the energetic radiation from event GRB221009A. Scientists are also wondering how very high-energy 18 TeV (tera-electron-volt) photons are created [3] observed with the Chinese Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory could defy our standard understanding of physics and survive its 2.4 billion year journey to Earth.

This event, given its relative proximity to Earth, is also a unique opportunity to better understand the origin of the heavier-than-iron elements and whether they all originate exclusively from neutron star mergers or also from collapsing stars that trigger GRBs.

“The Gemini observations will allow us to take full advantage of this nearby event and seek out the heavy element signatures formed and ejected in the massive stellar collapse‘ said O’Connor.

Remarks

[1] Target of Opportunity observation mode allows observation of targets that cannot be predetermined but have a well-defined external trigger. Examples include tracking newly discovered supernovae or gamma-ray bursts, or observing a specific class of objects from an ongoing imaging survey.

[2] Rapid brief “telegram-like” communications from the two teams via the NASA Gamma-ray Coordinates Network by Jillian Rastinejad & W Fong (Northwestern Univ) on behalf of a larger collaboration and by Brendan O’Connor (UMD/GWU), E. Troja (UTV /ASU)), S Dichiara (PSU), J Gillanders (UTV), SB Cenko (NASA/GSFC).

[3] For comparison: The strongest collision to date in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN had an energy of only 13 TeV.

More information

NSF’s NOIRLab (National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory), the US center for ground-based infrared optical astronomy, operates the international Gemini Observatory (an facility of NSF, NRC – Canada, ANID – Chile, MCTIC – Brazil, MINCyT – Argentina , and KASI–Republic of Korea), the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory (in collaboration with the SLAC National of the DOE). accelerator laboratory). It is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a collaborative agreement with the NSF and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. The astronomical community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research at Iolkam Du’ag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, at Maunakea in Hawaii, and at Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón in Chile. We recognize the very important cultural role and reverence these sites have for the Tohono O’odham Nation, the native Hawaiian community and the local communities in Chile respectively.

connections

contacts

Jillian Rastinejad
Northwest University
Email: [email protected]

Brendan O’Connor
University of Maryland/George Washington University
Email: [email protected]

Karl Blue
Public Relations Officer
NSF’s NOIRLab
Tel: +1 202 236 6324
Email: [email protected]

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