Brightest Ever Gamma Ray Burst October 2022

[David Silver]

October 2022 Gamma Ray Burst

The Brightest Gamma Ray Burst Ever Rattled Earth’s Atmosphere (excerpt)

“The death of a massive star far across the universe affected lightning on our planet and could teach us about the Milky Way

In early October, a wave of high-energy radiation swept over Earth from a gamma-ray burst, one of the most singularly catastrophic and violent events the cosmos has to offer. Astronomers quickly determined its distance and found it was the closest such burst ever seen: a mere two billion light-years from Earth. Or, if you prefer, 20 billion trillion kilometers away from us, a decent fraction of the size of the observable universe.

To astronomers, “close” means something different. This one was so close, cosmically speaking, that it was detected by a fleet of observatories both on and above the Earth, and is already yielding a trove of scientific treasure. But even from this immense distance in human terms, it was the brightest such event ever seen in x-rays and gamma rays, bright enough to spot its visible-light emission in smaller amateur telescopes, and was even able to physically affect our upper atmosphere. Despite that, this gamma-ray burst poses no danger to us...

…The energy in gamma-ray bursts is almost incomprehensible: In a few seconds they can emit as much energy as the sun will over its entire 12-billion-year lifespan. Their power comes from their tight focus; these thin beams concentrate the explosive energy in a very narrow direction. If the beam happens to be pointed your way, you see a flash of gamma rays bright enough to be detected even from many billions of light-years distant. Outside the path you see a more typical supernova…

A tweet by astrophysicist Rami Mandow pointed out that lightning detectors in India and Germany showed that the way pulses of electromagnetic radiation from lightning propagated changed suddenly at the same time the GRB energy hit our planet. These indicate conditions in Earth’s upper atmosphere changed, with electrons suddenly stripped from their host atoms. Gamma rays ionize atoms in this way, so it seems very likely that this blast physically affected our planet’s atmosphere, though only mildly and briefly. Still, from two billion light-years away, that’s an extraordinary phenomenon…”

WOW! Earth’s global electric circuit stimulated by energy from SO far away. Fascinating. Click link for full text.

 

• By Phil Plait on October 21, 2022

[hamateur 1953]

Pretty cool but what is really cool imho are the actual detections of gravity waves.  The literal wave disruption of our space-time like waves in a pond, except they pass through our reality. We have a right-angle laser detector in Hanford Washington USA that has detected at least two that im aware of.  These waves were predicted but never observed until this century began. The detector is called LIGO another exists elsewhere to corroborate them.  

13 hours ago, David Silver said:

October 2022 Gamma Ray Burst

The Brightest Gamma Ray Burst Ever Rattled Earth’s Atmosphere (excerpt)

“The death of a massive star far across the universe affected lightning on our planet and could teach us about the Milky Way

In early October, a wave of high-energy radiation swept over Earth from a gamma-ray burst, one of the most singularly catastrophic and violent events the cosmos has to offer. Astronomers quickly determined its distance and found it was the closest such burst ever seen: a mere two billion light-years from Earth. Or, if you prefer, 20 billion trillion kilometers away from us, a decent fraction of the size of the observable universe.

To astronomers, “close” means something different. This one was so close, cosmically speaking, that it was detected by a fleet of observatories both on and above the Earth, and is already yielding a trove of scientific treasure. But even from this immense distance in human terms, it was the brightest such event ever seen in x-rays and gamma rays, bright enough to spot its visible-light emission in smaller amateur telescopes, and was even able to physically affect our upper atmosphere. Despite that, this gamma-ray burst poses no danger to us...

…The energy in gamma-ray bursts is almost incomprehensible: In a few seconds they can emit as much energy as the sun will over its entire 12-billion-year lifespan. Their power comes from their tight focus; these thin beams concentrate the explosive energy in a very narrow direction. If the beam happens to be pointed your way, you see a flash of gamma rays bright enough to be detected even from many billions of light-years distant. Outside the path you see a more typical supernova…

A tweet by astrophysicist Rami Mandow pointed out that lightning detectors in India and Germany showed that the way pulses of electromagnetic radiation from lightning propagated changed suddenly at the same time the GRB energy hit our planet. These indicate conditions in Earth’s upper atmosphere changed, with electrons suddenly stripped from their host atoms. Gamma rays ionize atoms in this way, so it seems very likely that this blast physically affected our planet’s atmosphere, though only mildly and briefly. Still, from two billion light-years away, that’s an extraordinary phenomenon…”

WOW! Earth’s global electric circuit stimulated by energy from SO far away. Fascinating. Click link for full text.

 

• By Phil Plait on October 21, 2022

 

[3gMike]

2 hours ago, hamateur 1953 said:

Pretty cool but what is really cool imho are the actual detections of gravity waves.  The literal wave disruption of our space-time like waves in a pond, except they pass through our reality. We have a right-angle laser detector in Hanford Washington USA that has detected at least two that im aware of.  These waves were predicted but never observed until this century began. The detector is called LIGO another exists elsewhere to corroborate them.  

 

Some good info on LIGO available here https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/about

[Archmonoth]

On 12/7/2022 at 2:00 PM, David Silver said:

...." one of the most singularly catastrophic and violent events the cosmos has to offer.

 

.....Gamma rays ionize atoms in this way, so it seems very likely that this blast physically affected our planet’s atmosphere, though only mildly and briefly.”

What a tease.

[Christopher S.]

Would 100% explain the anomalies I've been seeing lately... across numerous scientific instruments in particular. Thanks for bringing this to my attention; a GRB is probably the last thing I'd have expected.

[WildWill]

On 12/7/2022 at 4:00 PM, David Silver said:

October 2022 Gamma Ray Burst

The Brightest Gamma Ray Burst Ever Rattled Earth’s Atmosphere (excerpt)

“The death of a massive star far across the universe affected lightning on our planet and could teach us about the Milky Way

In early October, a wave of high-energy radiation swept over Earth from a gamma-ray burst, one of the most singularly catastrophic and violent events the cosmos has to offer. Astronomers quickly determined its distance and found it was the closest such burst ever seen: a mere two billion light-years from Earth. Or, if you prefer, 20 billion trillion kilometers away from us, a decent fraction of the size of the observable universe.

To astronomers, “close” means something different. This one was so close, cosmically speaking, that it was detected by a fleet of observatories both on and above the Earth, and is already yielding a trove of scientific treasure. But even from this immense distance in human terms, it was the brightest such event ever seen in x-rays and gamma rays, bright enough to spot its visible-light emission in smaller amateur telescopes, and was even able to physically affect our upper atmosphere. Despite that, this gamma-ray burst poses no danger to us...

…The energy in gamma-ray bursts is almost incomprehensible: In a few seconds they can emit as much energy as the sun will over its entire 12-billion-year lifespan. Their power comes from their tight focus; these thin beams concentrate the explosive energy in a very narrow direction. If the beam happens to be pointed your way, you see a flash of gamma rays bright enough to be detected even from many billions of light-years distant. Outside the path you see a more typical supernova…

A tweet by astrophysicist Rami Mandow pointed out that lightning detectors in India and Germany showed that the way pulses of electromagnetic radiation from lightning propagated changed suddenly at the same time the GRB energy hit our planet. These indicate conditions in Earth’s upper atmosphere changed, with electrons suddenly stripped from their host atoms. Gamma rays ionize atoms in this way, so it seems very likely that this blast physically affected our planet’s atmosphere, though only mildly and briefly. Still, from two billion light-years away, that’s an extraordinary phenomenon…”

WOW! Earth’s global electric circuit stimulated by energy from SO far away. Fascinating. Click link for full text.

 

• By Phil Plait on October 21, 2022

It just boggles my mind how nothing ever happened unless it was witnessed and recorded in the last couple of hundred years? 
 

4.5 Billion Years is what we are told is the age of the solar system. I'm all that time, the earth was never bathed in the radiation of a CRB? 
Anyone who believes this, please move to the left side of the room. We have some timeshare presentations especially for you! 

Many scientists believe, and there is evidence for - at least one, if not two of the mass extinctions in earths history was caused by a CRB. If memory serves me, the largest mass extinction event was a little over 600 million years ago. It's believed to have been caused by a CRB event which took place here in our own galaxy - just a scant 6000 LY away.  Look it up!

It's always the first , the biggest, strongest, baddest  etc etc etc

But I guess without the inaccurate superlatives and if the appropriate qualifiers were added, wouldn't sell many magazines... lol. "Unprecedented" is the most annoying of these.

Next time you look up at big sky, try to remember just how insignificant we are on it all - and just how little we know!

 

 

[David Silver]

I do appreciate that perspective @WildWill. Earth is 4.5 billion, universe is 13+ billion. But yes, they should have said "biggest recorded in modern history". I don't think they're claiming its the largest gamma ray burst in the history of the vast-and-probably-inifinite universe.

My main area of interest and utter fascination is that this event TWO BILLION LIGHT YEARS AWAY blasted energy into our solar system which resulted in lightning that reached the surface of the Earth. I enjoy learning about the global electric circuit and how it works.

[Archmonoth]

Here is an article about a 8.5 billion light year away explosion directed at Earth. 

 

AT 2022cmc: Rare cosmic event beamed light at Earth from 8.5 billion light-years away | CNN

"The researchers determined AT 2022cmc was “100 times more powerful than the most powerful gamma-ray burst afterglow” previously recorded, according to Dheeraj Pasham, lead study author of the Nature Astronomy paper and a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research."

[David Silver]

Yes, this recent one in October was the closest which likely is why it was able to affect the atmosphere slightly. Super neat-o. There are many others at varying distances, some just visible, others radiating at us more directly.

[David Silver]

Effects of brightest ever gamma ray burst show how a closer blast could harm life

Update on this once-in-10,000 years event.

Quote

On 9 October 2022, for 7 minutes, high energy photons from a gigantic explosion 1.9 billion light-years away toasted one side of Earth as never before observed. The event, called a gamma ray burst (GRB), was 70 times brighter than the previous record holder. But what astronomers dub the “BOAT”—the brightest of all time—did more than provide a light show spanning the electromagnetic spectrum. It also ionized atoms across the ionosphere, which spans from 50 to 1000 kilometers in altitude, researchers say. The findings highlight the faint but real risk of a closer burst destroying Earth’s protective ozone layer.

 

[Newbie]

On 11/29/2023 at 10:18 AM, David Silver said:

Effects of brightest ever gamma ray burst show how a closer blast could harm life

Update on this once-in-10,000 years event.

 

Hi David,

Even though the above was an incredible discovery GRBs are detected almost everyday, scattered randomly throughout the Universe, it is highly unlikely that life on Earth will be harmed because of them. 😊

There are no stars within 200 light years of our Solar System that are of the type destined to explode as a GRB, so we do not expect to witness such an event at close range!

Interesting nonetheless!

N.

[David Silver]

Yes, I’m not concerned with catastrophe, but as I mentioned, according to these scientists

…this event TWO BILLION LIGHT YEARS AWAY blasted energy into our solar system which resulted in lightning that reached the surface of the Earth.

[Newbie]

13 minutes ago, David Silver said:

Yes, I’m not concerned with catastrophe, but as I mentioned, according to these scientists

…this event TWO BILLION LIGHT YEARS AWAY blasted energy into our solar system which resulted in lightning that reached the surface of the Earth.

Agreed the distance travelled for it to have any effect is phenomenal.

N.

Edited November 30, 2023 by Newbie