• News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
'Goosebumps' as NASA discovers 'biggest explosion since the Big Bang'

Home> Science> Space

Published 11:39 1 Aug 2024 GMT+1

'Goosebumps' as NASA discovers 'biggest explosion since the Big Bang'

It's been dubbed the B.O.A.T.

Rebekah Jordan

Rebekah Jordan

Featured Image Credit: Aaron M. Geller/Northwestern/CIERA/IT Research Computing and Data Services / International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/B. O'Connor/J. Rastinejad & W. Fong
Science
Space
Discovery

Advert

Advert

Advert

Scientists came across an incredible gamma-ray burst (GRB) which might be the biggest since the Big Bang.

In October 2022, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory detected a huge explosion which has been dubbed the 'brightest of all time' or B.O.A.T.

The official name of the burst is GRB221009A.

GRBs are described by scientists as 'transient flashes of high-energy photons from cosmological distances produced when a black hole drives a relativistic jet pointing toward Earth.'

Advert

Wen-fai Fong, one of the discovers of B.O.A.T and an associate professor of physics and astronomy said: 'As long as we have been able to detect GRBs, there is no question that this GRB is the brightest we have ever witnessed by a factor of 10 or more.

NASA scientists just discovered the biggest explosion since the Big Bang (Aaron M. Geller/Northwestern/CIERA/IT Research Computing and Data Services / International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/B. O'Connor/J. Rastinejad & W. Fong)
NASA scientists just discovered the biggest explosion since the Big Bang (Aaron M. Geller/Northwestern/CIERA/IT Research Computing and Data Services / International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/B. O'Connor/J. Rastinejad & W. Fong)

'Because the GRB is so bright, we expect to be able to monitor it for several months. It’s currently in its infancy, and we are learning more with each new passing observation.'

Research leader Maria Edvige Ravasio from Radboud University added: 'A few minutes after the BOAT erupted, Fermi's Gamma-ray Burst Monitor recorded an unusual energy peak that caught our attention.

Advert

'When I first saw that signal, it gave me goosebumps. Our analysis since then shows it to be the first high-confidence emission line ever seen in 50 years of studying GRBs.'

These explosions aren't small time either. If one were to occur within a few thousand light-years of Earth, it could knock out our planet.

You don't need to worry about this happening (again) in your lifetime though. These types of GRBS are only visible in the sky once every 10,000 years.

These kinds of GRBS are only visible in the sky once every 10,000 years.(Aaron M. Geller/Northwestern/CIERA/IT Research Computing and Data Services / International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/B. O'Connor/J. Rastinejad & W. Fong)
These kinds of GRBS are only visible in the sky once every 10,000 years.(Aaron M. Geller/Northwestern/CIERA/IT Research Computing and Data Services / International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/B. O'Connor/J. Rastinejad & W. Fong)

Advert

The one in 2022 did not impact Earth however, it did affect our atmosphere, around 310 miles altitude. This is considered the top half of our atmosphere.

This disturbance refers to a change in the upper atmosphere's electric field.

The cause, however, was likely 'the collapse of a massive star with up to 30 times the mass of our sun.'

'While some previous studies have reported possible evidence for absorption and emission features in other GRBs, subsequent scrutiny revealed that all of these could just be statistical fluctuations. What we see in the BOAT is different,' said co-author Om Sharan Salafia at INAF-Brera Observatory in Milan, Italy.

Advert

'We’ve determined that the odds this feature is just a noise fluctuation are less than one chance in half a billion.'

Choose your content:

2 days ago
3 days ago
  • 2 days ago

    Elon Musk doubles down on Mars mission update as he calls for ISS to be scrapped

    The Moon is just the first small step for man

    Science
  • 2 days ago

    Mind-blowing study suggests everything you see is actually from 15 seconds in the past

    Studies reveal that your brain is tricking you

    Science
  • 2 days ago

    Scientists spot mystery 'interstellar object' spotted hurtling towards our solar system

    This discovery would be just the third of its kind in history

    Science
  • 3 days ago

    Scientists discover horrifying find in human semen for the first time ever

    With more to be revealed as studies go on

    Science
  • Horrifying planet where it rains glass at 4,300mph uncovered by NASA telescope
  • Scientists discover groundbreaking new evidence that the Big Bang theory is wrong
  • NASA makes shocking Big Bang discovery that astronomers say 'shouldn't exist'
  • Physicist says the Big Bang is a mirror with another universe hiding behind it