Astronomers all over the globe observed the aftereffects of a supernova explosion. This very rare occurrence took place in a galaxy 2 billion miles from Earth. And the pulsing high-energy gamma-ray burst (GRB) passed through our solar system on October 9th.
The blast triggered the detectors like NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, on Wind spacecraft, and the Submillimeter Array radio telescope atop Mauna Kea, in Hawaii.
When these space telescopes are triggered, they automatically turn towards the emission site to continue observation.
Astronomers believe that the record-breaking emission from a gamma-ray burst caught by @NASAUniverse’s Femi & Swift telescopes on Oct. 9th, signaled the birth of a black hole in a collapsing star nearly 2 billion years ago. More: https://t.co/9qpcORvlVQ pic.twitter.com/LV33qtsA6q
— Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ) October 17, 2022
Powerful supernova explosion
The supernova explosion visible from Earth was named GRB 221009A.
The Swift Observatory caught sight of the light show with electronic tools specifically designed to find and analyze gamma-ray bursts.
Meanwhile, a gathering of gamma-ray astronomers at the 10th International Fermi Symposium in Johannesburg, South Africa, October 9 through 15, 2022 watched the event in real-time.
