Gamma-ray bursts are the brightest explosions the cosmos has to offer, besides the Big Bang—the explosion that happened 13.77 billion years ago that marks the beginning of time.

The unusual gamma-ray burst originated from the small red dot within the circle in this image. The graph shows how bright and long-lasting the burst was.

Astronomers have determined what caused the brightest cosmic explosion ever recorded. Lasting a matter of minutes, the gamma-ray burst, named GRB 221009A, was observed by astronomers in October ...

Earth just got zapped. On Sunday a gamma-ray burst (GRB), the most powerful class of explosions in the universe, caused a wave of gamma rays and X-rays to sweep over Earth.

The gamma ray burst as seen by the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton observatory. Image: ESA/XMM - Newton/M. Rigoselli (INAF) On October 9, 2022, a gamma ray burst brighter than any before seen ...

They identified a sharp jump in the electric field at the top of the ionosphere, which they correlated to the gamma ray burst signal measured by the European Space Agency’s International Gamma ...

There are two types of gamma-ray bursts: short and long. Classic short-term GRBs last less than two seconds, and they were previously thought to only occur from the merging of two ultra-dense ...

On Oct. 9, 2022, Swift’s X-Ray Telescope captured the afterglow of the brightest gamma-ray burst every recorded, called GRB 221009A. Credit: NASA/Swift/A. Beardmore (University of Leicester) ...

During their quest to find the source of one of the brightest and most powerful explosions in the universe, astronomers discovered a new chaotic way that stars can die. The bright flash of gamma ...

Using NASA's Fermi space telescope, Italian astronomers have observed a radio source known as 3C 216. As a result, they detected increased gamma-ray activity from this source, including a strong ...

The first-ever 3D simulation of the formation of a black hole jet reveals why mysterious gamma-ray bursts appear to blink and suggests that these mysterious phenomena might be much rarer than ...

"A gamma-ray pulsar milestone inspires innovative astrophysics and applications." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 November 2023. <www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2023 / 11 / 231128132334.htm>.