Webb space telescope finds surprises while observing aftermath of brightest gamma-ray burst recorded

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Astronomers have now confirmed the process that caused the brightest cosmic explosion ever recorded. The explosion was so bright that it saturated most detectors in Earth orbit. Scientists believed such gamma-ray bursts produce heavy metals, but did not discover any in the vicinity of the new supernova.

Artist's illustration of GRB 221009A, showing relativistic jets originating from the central black hole. (Image Credit: Aaron M Geller / Northwestern / CIERA / IT Research Computing and Data Services).

Key Highlights

Astronomers recorded the brightest gamma-ray burst of all time in 2022.
The James Webb Space Telescope turned its sensitive gaze towards the source about six months after the outburst.
Researchers expected to find heavy metals surrounding the dead star, but did not.

New Delhi: On 22 October 2022, astronomical instruments around the world picked up a particularly bright flash of light, a gamma-ray burst designated as GRB 221009A. The flash was the most luminous gamma-ray burst ever observed, earning it the moniker of BOAT for Brightest Of All Time. The GRB was more than ten times brighter than all previous such outbursts.

Scientists responded with a number of scientific papers after studying the event. Scientists explained the intensity of the light as a result of a jet from a newly formed black hole being aimed straight at the Earth, during the final violent moments of a dying star. Chinese astronomers were able to capture the optical counterpart of the explosion.

A deepening mystery

Now, a team of researchers have confirmed that the collapse and subsequent explosion of a particularly massive star was responsible for the BOAT event. The research is based on observations conducted by the James Webb Space Telescope. The researchers expected to find evidence of heavy elements such as platinum and gold in the vicinity of the supernova, but such elements were not discovered, deepening the mystery of the origin of heavy elements in the universe.

A paper describing the findings has been published in Nature Astronomy. Lead author of the study, Peter Blanchard says, "When we confirmed that the GRB was generated by the collapse of a massive star, that gave us the opportunity to test a hypothesis for how some of the heaviest elements in the universe are formed. We did not see signatures of these heavy elements, suggesting that extremely energetic GRBs like the BOAT do not produce these elements. That doesn't mean that all GRBs do not produce them, but it's a key piece of information as we continue to understand where these heavy elements come from. Future observations with JWST will determine if the BOAT's 'normal' cousins produce these elements."

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