GRB 130427A: Brightest Ever Gamma-Ray Burst Is A 'Nearby Ordinary Monster'
Friday, November 22, 2013 - 14:40
in Astronomy & Space
Astronomers from around the world have used data from satellites and observatories to explain the brightest Gamma-ray Burst (GRB) ever recorded. An unusually bright GRB, now deemed GRB 130427A, was observed on April 27th 2013 by the Swift satellite and was then found this be a result of an extremely powerful stellar explosion. This explosion produced a jet of matter moving close to the speed of light, which was formed when a massive star collapsed to make a black hole at its centre. As a result, a blast wave caused the rest of the star to expand outwards, producing a glowing shell of debris observed as an extremely bright supernova. read more