STARS AND GALAXIES

Brightest Cosmic Explosion

Ever Detected Had Other
Unique Features
June 8, 2023

A jet of particles pierces a star as it collapses into a black hole during a typical
gamma-ray burst, as depicted in this artist’s concept. The jet created by gamma-ray
burst 221009A had some unique features. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight
Center

Observations by NASA’s NuSTAR X-ray telescope give

astronomers new clues about the brightest and most energetic
gamma-ray burst ever detected.

When scientists detected the gamma-ray burst known as GRB

221009A on Oct. 9, 2022, they dubbed it the brightest of all time,
or BOAT. Most gamma-ray bursts occur when the core of a star
more massive than our Sun collapses, becoming a black hole.
These events regularly release as much energy in a few minutes
as our Sun will release in its entire lifetime. Follow-up studies
showed that GRB 221009A was 70 times brighter and far more
energetic than the previous record holder. While scientists don’t
yet understand why, they’ve received a tantalizing clue from
NASA’s NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array)
observatory.

In a study published June 7, in the journal Science Advances,

scientists used NuSTAR observations of the event to show how
the collapsing star ejected a jet of material that had a shape not
previously observed among gamma-ray burst jets, as well as other
unique characteristics. It’s possible that the source of these
distinctions is the progenitor star, the physical properties of which
could influence the characteristics of the burst. It’s also possible
that an entirely different mechanism launches the very brightest
jets into space.

Overview Animation of Gamma-ray Burst

The most energetic kind of explosion in the universe, a gamma-ray burst can be
spotted billions of light-years away. GRB 221009A was so luminous it effectively
blinded most gamma-ray instruments in space when it was detected Oct. 9, 2022.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

“This event was so much brighter and more energetic than any
gamma-ray burst we’ve seen before, it’s not even close,” said
Brendan O’Connor, lead author of the new study and an
astronomer at George Washington University in Washington.
“Then, when we analyzed the NuSTAR data, we realized that it
also has this unique jet structure. And that was really exciting,
because we have no way of studying the star that produced this
event; it’s gone now. But we now have some data giving us clues
about how it exploded.”

Jumbo Jet
 The Hubble Space Telescope captured the infrared afterglow (circled) of the gamma-
ray burst known as GRB 221009A and its host galaxy. This composite incorporates
images taken Nov. 8 and Dec. 4, 2022, about one and two months after the eruption.
The afterglow may remain detectable for several years. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA,
STScI, A. Levan (Radboud University); Image Processing: Gladys Kober

Gamma rays are the most energetic form of light in the universe
yet invisible to the human eye. All known gamma-ray bursts have
originated in galaxies outside our Milky Way but are bright enough
to be spotted billions of light-years away. Some blink into
existence and last less than two seconds, while so-called long
gamma-ray bursts typically radiate gamma rays for a minute or
more. These objects can radiate other wavelengths for weeks.

GRB 221009A, a long gamma-ray burst, was so bright it effectively

blinded most gamma-ray instruments in space. U.S. scientists were
able to reconstruct this event with data from NASA’s Fermi
Gamma-ray Space Telescope to determine its actual brightness.
(The BOAT was also detected by NASA’s Hubble and James
Webb space telescopes, the agency’s Wind and Voyager 1
spacecraft, as well as the ESA, or European Space Agency, Solar
Orbiter.)

Similar to other gamma-ray bursts, GRB 221009A had a jet that

erupted from the collapsing star like it was shot into space from a
fire hose, with gamma rays radiating from the hot gas and
particles at the jet’s core. But GRB 221009A’s jet stood out in a
few ways. In just about every previously observed gamma-ray
burst, the jet remained remarkably compact and there was little to
no stray light or material outside the narrow beam. (In fact,
gamma-ray bursts are so compact, the gamma rays can only be
observed when their jets are pointed almost directly at Earth.)

By contrast, in GRB 221009A the jet had a narrow core with wider,
sloping sides. Some of the most energetic gamma-ray jets have
shown similar properties, but the jet from the BOAT was unique in
one important way: The energy of the material in GRB 221009A
also varied, meaning that instead of all the material in the jet
having the same energy – like a single bullet shot from a gun – the
energy of the of the material changed with distance from the jet’s
core. This has never been observed in a long gamma-ray burst jet
before.

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“The only way to produce a different jet structure and vary the
energy is to vary some property of the star that exploded, like its
size, mass, density, or magnetic field,” said Eleonora Troja, a
professor of physics at the University of Rome, who led NuSTAR
the observations of the event. “That’s because the jet has to
basically force its way out of the star. So, for example, the amount
of resistance it meets would potentially influence the features of
the jet.”

Footprints in the Snow

Astronomers can see the light from gamma-ray jets, but the
distance means they can’t resolve images of the jets directly.
Researchers have to interpret the light from these events to learn
about the physical characteristics of faraway objects. It’s sort of
like looking at footprints in the snow and inferring something
about the physical traits of the person who left them.

In many cases, there may be more than one possible explanation

for the light from a cosmic event. More than one X-ray telescopes
observed GRB 221009A, including NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift
Observatory and Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer
(NICER), as well as ESA’s XMM-Newton telescope. The NuSTAR
data helped narrow down those possibilities. It shows that as the
jet traveled into space, it collided with the interstellar medium, or
the sparse sea of atoms and particles that fills the space between
stars. This collision created X-rays – particles of light slightly less
energetic than gamma rays.

“There are multiple X-ray telescopes operating in space, each with

different strengths that can help astronomers understand these
cosmic objects better,” said Daniel Stern, NuSTAR project scientist
at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

More About the Mission

A Small Explorer mission led by Caltech and managed by JPL for
NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, NuSTAR was
developed in partnership with the Danish Technical University and
the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The spacecraft was built by Orbital
Sciences Corp. in Dulles, Virginia. NuSTAR’s mission operations
center is at the University of California, Berkeley, and the official
data archive is at NASA’s High Energy Astrophysics Science
Archive Research Center at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. ASI provides the mission’s ground
station and a mirror data archive. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about the NuSTAR mission, visit:

https://www.nustar.caltech.edu/

News Media Contact

Calla Cofield
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-808-2469
calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov

2023-083

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