Earth was hit by an “extraordinary, energy-intensive” blast from a nearby galaxy that could change our understanding of the universe, as this event appears unlike anything else we’ve seen before from a long gamma-ray burst, which is like the rays produced by the collapsing jets of massive stars.
Given that all other confirmed neutron star mergers that we have observed have been associated with bursts lasting less than 2 seconds, we had every reason to expect that the 50-second GRB was caused by the collapse of a massive star. This event represents an exciting paradigm shift for gamma-ray burst astronomy.
Explosion results
A paper describing the results, “A Kilonova After a Long-Dured Gamma-ray Burst at 350 Million Units Per Inch,” has been published as the burst was first observed in December 2021 by NASA’s Neil Gehrells Swift Observatory and the Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope. Since then, researchers have been looking to classify the explosion and understand its possible source.
Among other results, they showed that a single event produced elements as heavy as nearly 1,000 times the mass of Earth. This indicates that kilonova is the main place where gold is produced in the universe.
Because the galaxy from which the aftermath of the gamma-ray burst came from is relatively nearby, scientists were able to get an unusually close look at it. Moreover, such an explosion could help explain other gamma-ray bursts that don’t seem to fit our understanding of their source.
James Webb Telescope
Scientists hope that the operation of the James Webb Space Telescope will lead to a better view of the kilonova. This telescope is able to take pictures of distant astronomical objects, and “sniff” their atmospheres, allowing it to see exactly which elements are present through a process known as spectroscopy.
“Unfortunately, even the best ground-based telescopes are not sensitive enough to do spectroscopy,” Rastingad said. “With JWST, we were able to obtain a spectrum of a kilonova. These spectral lines provide direct evidence of your detection of the heaviest elements.”