May 13, 2024

400 Quadrillion Times Brighter Than the Sun – Scientists Detect Most Energetic Ultraviolet/Optical Flare Ever

The timely optical emission of GRB 080319B sets the universe-wide luminosity record for an ultraviolet/optical emission in 2008. Now, GRB 220101A has broken the earlier record.
On New Years Day 2022, the Swift satellite identified a brand-new burst, GRB 220101A. The redshift of GRB 220101A was determined at 4.618.
The scientists then carried out a high-time-resolution photometric analysis that exposed a rapid development of the flux. In particular, at the peak time, the UVOT telescope was currently moderately filled.
” We proposed a processing method for UVOT information, based upon the telescopes point spread function, and verified that it indeed supplies trusted flux measurements,” said Prof. FAN Yizhong from PMO, the corresponding author of the study. After the proper range and absorption corrections, the absolute magnitude of the ultraviolet/optical emission of GRB 220101A reached -39.4, making it the only source to date with an outright magnitude brighter than -39.
” It is likewise the very first time to identify an incredibly energetic ultraviolet/optical flare with an area telescope,” Prof. FAN added.
The luminosity of GRB 220101A is around 400 quadrillion times that of the Sun, which breaks the 14-year record held by GRB 080319B. It likewise suggests a new astrophysical process, demonstrating the variety of physical origins of super-bright optical-ultraviolet bursts.
The China– France Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) satellite, scheduled to release in early 2024, is expected to be able to identify extremely energetic ultraviolet/optical flares at even greater redshifts.
Reference: “An optical– ultraviolet flare with absolute AB magnitude of − 39.4 identified in GRB 220101A” by Zhi-Ping Jin, Hao Zhou, Yun Wang, Jin-Jun Geng, Stefano Covino, Xue-Feng Wu, Xiang Li, Yi-Zhong Fan, Da-Ming Wei and Jian-Yan Wei, 26 June 2023, Nature Astronomy.DOI: 10.1038/ s41550-023-02005-w.

Researchers from the Purple Mountain Observatory and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics have actually established a brand-new method to measure UV sources using the Swift/UVOT satellite and identified GRB 220101A as the brightest ultraviolet/optical flare ever observed. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most violent surges in the universe. The timely optical emission of GRB 080319B sets the universe-wide luminosity record for an ultraviolet/optical emission in 2008. On New Years Day 2022, the Swift satellite spotted a brand-new burst, GRB 220101A. The redshift of GRB 220101A was determined at 4.618.

Scientists from the Purple Mountain Observatory and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics have developed a brand-new method to measure UV sources using the Swift/UVOT satellite and identified GRB 220101A as the brightest ultraviolet/optical flare ever observed. This discovery suggests an unique astrophysical process and challenges prior understandings of ultraviolet/optical bursts. (Artists principle of a gamma-ray burst.).
Scientists from Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics have introduced a new method to determine reasonably saturated sources of the Ultra-Violet Optical Telescope onboard the Swift satellite (Swift/UVOT). Furthermore, they have actually determined GRB 220101A as the most energetic ultraviolet/optical flare ever detected.
The findings were just recently published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most violent surges in deep space. Their prompt radiation is generally in the soft gamma-ray band and lasts briefly (i.e., from milliseconds to at a lot of hours). The timely emission is then followed by the X-ray, optical, and radio afterglow emission, which lasts for weeks or perhaps years.