NASA Detects Shockingly Bright Gamma-ray Burst from Dying Star

A record-setting blast of gamma rays from a dying star in a distant galaxy has astounded astronomers. Instruments have detected the highest energy light ever seen from such an event.

The ejection of gamma rays, which is known as a gamma-ray burst (GRB), occurred in the constellation Leo. These explosions are some of the most luminous in the universe, and most likely occur when massive stars run out of nuclear fuel and collapse under their own weight. As the core collapses into a black hole, jets of material shoot outward at nearly the speed of light. These speeding jets bore all the way through the collapsing star where they interact with previously shed gas and generate bright afterglows that eventually fade with time.

"We have waited a long time for a gamma-ray burst this shockingly, eye-wateringly bright," said Julie McEnery, project scientist for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, in a news release. "The GRB lasted so long that a record number of telescopes on the ground were able to catch it while space-based observations were still ongoing."

In fact, Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT) recorded one gamma ray with an energy of at least 94 billion electron volts (GeV). That's about 35 billion times the energy of visible light and around three times greater than the LAT's previous record.

If the GRB is near enough, astronomers should be able to see an emerging supernova about a week or so after the outburst. These supernovas can result in stunning images that are colored in green, blue, red and violet.

"This GRB is in the closest five percent of bursts, so the big push now is to find an emerging supernova, which accompanies nearly all long GRBs at this distance," said Goddard's Neil Gehrels, principal investigator for Swift, in a news release.

Currently, ground-based observatories are monitoring the location of this GRB, and astronomers expect to find an underlying supernova by midmonth.

Want to see more images from this event? You can check them out here.