by A powerful blast of gamma-rays that may have been the most powerful cosmic explosion since the Big Bang caused significant disturbance around Earth when it struck our planet, new research finds.
The incredibly bright and long-lasting gamma-ray burst — dubbed the "brightest of all time," or the BOAT, and officially designated GRB 221009A — was detected in October 2022 by an array of high-energy-detecting satellites around Earth.
The BOAT is believed to have occurred when a massive star located more than 2 billion light-years away exploded, creating a supernova before collapsing into a black hole.
When the blast's radiation struck our planet, the BOAT seems to have generated severe effects in Earth's ionosphere.
This layer of the atmosphere, which extends from about 30 to 600 miles (50 to 1,000 kilometers) above the planet's surface, is rich in electrically charged particles, and investigating these effects could reveal if any of Earth's mass extinctions might have resulted from gamma-ray bursts.
Source
The incredibly bright and long-lasting gamma-ray burst — dubbed the "brightest of all time," or the BOAT, and officially designated GRB 221009A — was detected in October 2022 by an array of high-energy-detecting satellites around Earth.
The BOAT is believed to have occurred when a massive star located more than 2 billion light-years away exploded, creating a supernova before collapsing into a black hole.
When the blast's radiation struck our planet, the BOAT seems to have generated severe effects in Earth's ionosphere.
This layer of the atmosphere, which extends from about 30 to 600 miles (50 to 1,000 kilometers) above the planet's surface, is rich in electrically charged particles, and investigating these effects could reveal if any of Earth's mass extinctions might have resulted from gamma-ray bursts.
Source
