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An unusual stellar explosion observed on April 27, 2013 by NASA’s Swift satellite is the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever recorded, says a multinational team of astronomers.

Optical afterglow of GRB 130427A. Image credit: J. Mats / H. Lars / H. Patrik.

The event, labeled GRB 130427A, 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 center. 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.

GRB 130427A happened in a galaxy a quarter of the way across the Universe. Although far away, this is much closer than a typical GRB allowing astronomers to confirm for the first time that the same object can simultaneously create both a powerful GRB and a supernovae.

“We normally detect GRBs at great distance, meaning they usually appear quite faint. In this case the burst happened only a quarter of the way across the Universe meaning it was very bright. On this occasion, a powerful supernova was also produced, something we have not recorded before alongside a Read more…