Seventy Times Brighter Than Any Prior Known Gamma Ray Burst: A "Once In 10,000 Years" Event.

In fact, it was (and is) so bright, head on... that the standard models cannot explain the physics of this multi-wavelength outburst.

But essentially-every space based, and all capable ground based telescope teams are hot on the case: contributing what data they garner, in hopes of fleshing out a clearer model. . . of what makes this super energetic "spot-light" tick. Think of the old sky lights, on Broadway. . . only about 200 billion times brighter, and as focused in a narrow spot, as an industrial laser used, say. . . for cutting steel, in terms of the size of the beam -- compared to the surrounding diffuse light, in the region. Here's much more:

. . .The signal from GRB 221009A had been traveling for about 1.9 billion years before it reached Earth, making it among the closest-known “long” GRBs, whose initial, or prompt, emission lasts more than two seconds. Astronomers think these bursts represent the birth cries of black holes formed when the cores of massive stars collapse under their own weight. As it quickly ingests the surrounding matter, the black hole blasts out jets in opposite directions containing particles accelerated to near the speed of light. These jets pierce through the star, emitting X-rays and gamma rays as they stream into space. . . .

“Being so close and so bright, this burst offered us an unprecedented opportunity to gather observations of the afterglow across the electromagnetic spectrum and to test how well our models reflect what’s really happening in GRB jets,” said Kate Alexander, an assistant professor in the department of astronomy at the University of Arizona in Tucson. “Twenty-five years of afterglow models that have worked very well cannot completely explain this jet,” she said. “In particular, we found a new radio component we don’t fully understand. This may indicate additional structure within the jet or suggest the need to revise our models of how GRB jets interact with their surroundings.”

The jets themselves were not unusually powerful, but they were exceptionally narrow – much like the jet setting of a garden hose – and one was pointed directly at us, Alexander explained. The closer to head-on we view a jet, the brighter it appears. Although the afterglow was unexpectedly dim at radio energies, it’s likely that GRB 221009A will remain detectable for years, providing a novel opportunity to track the full life cycle of a powerful jet. . . .

Whoosh -- and a short movie:



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