Brightest gamma-ray radiation recorded

Key updates-

• The data from the radiation pulse may help overturn a decades-long theory of gamma ray burst (GRB) jets.
• The 5-minute-long radiation recorded on October 9, 2022 was the most intense ever, causing disruptions in radio signals on earth and cutting across our solar system. 
• Astronomers, including ones from the home of radio astronomy in India, National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), Pune, concluded such signals were a birth cry of a black hole. 
• The new study appeared and observations of the radiation named GRB 221009A throw a fresh light on the long quest to fathom the origin of the noted extreme cosmic explosions. 
• The observation was conducted jointly by Center for Astrophysics, Harvard and Smithsonian’s Submillimeter Array (SMA) in Hawaii, the MeerKAT Array in South Africa, the US National Science Foundation’s Karl G Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico (USA), the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) in Chile and NCRA’s Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, India.

What are GRBs?

• In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are immensely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. 
• They are the most energetic and luminous electromagnetic events since the Big Bang. Bursts can last from ten milliseconds to several hours. 
• After an initial flash of gamma rays, a longer-lived “afterglow” is usually emitted at longer wavelengths (X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, microwave and radio).
• The intense radiation of most observed GRBs is thought to be released during a supernova or superluminous supernova as a high-mass star implodes to form a neutron star or a black hole. A subclass of GRBs appear to originate from the merger of binary neutron stars.
• The sources of most GRBs are billions of light years away from Earth, implying that the explosions are both extremely energetic (a typical burst releases as much energy in a few seconds as the Sun will in its entire 10-billion-year lifetime) and extremely rare (a few per galaxy per million years).
• Long duration GRBs were the outcome of a birth of a black hole formed as the core of a massive star falling under its weight, according to the scientists. 
• The phenomenon of the formation of a new black hole releases powerful plasma jets almost of the speed of light shooting gamma rays.