Astronomers believe these outbursts represent the birth cries of black holes that formed when the cores of massive stars collapsed under their own weight.
NASA astronomers presented new findings about the brightest gamma-ray burst of all time (BOAT) at the Astronomical Society’s Division of High-Energy Astrophysics meeting in Waikoloa, Hawaii. English), which occurred in October 2022.
The evidence was shown last Tuesday, March 28. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most powerful kind of explosion in the universe.
BOAT activated detectors on numerous spacecraft and at observatories around the world. Observations of the burst span the entire spectrum, from radio waves to gamma rays, and include data from many missions by NASA and its partners, including the NICER X-ray Telescope on the International Space Station, NASA’s NuSTAR observatory, and even Voyager 1 in interstellar space.
What is the relationship between these outbursts and black holes?
Astronomers believe these outbursts represent the birth cries of black holes that formed when the cores of massive stars collapsed under their own weight. As it rapidly ingests surrounding matter, the black hole shoots out jets in opposite directions containing particles accelerating to nearly the speed of light. These jets streak through the star, emitting X-rays and gamma rays as they stream into space.
NASA’s James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes searched for the supernova usually found after long bursts, so far without success. Observations will continue, but astronomers say the black hole may have swallowed the entire star instead of exploding.
The explosion is among the closest long GRBs. The jets themselves weren’t unusually powerful, but they were exceptionally narrow, much like the stream configuration of a garden hose, and one was pointed directly at Earth. The closer in front we see a jet, the brighter it appears.
The outburst also allowed astronomers to probe distant dust clouds in our own galaxy. As the fast X-rays traveled toward us, some of them reflected off the dust layers, creating extended “light echoes” from the initial explosion in the form of rings of X-rays that spread out from the location of the explosion.
Astronomers may be able to study the glow from this amazing GRB for years to come.