On Oct. 9, 2022, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, and Wind spacecraft detected the single brightest gamma-ray burst ever observed. The burst, named GRB 221009A, was 70 times brighter than the previous record holder and far more energetic than any other gamma-ray burst ever detected. However, scientists are still unsure how such an energetic burst could have been created.
Since its detection, GRB 221009A has been extensively studied by several teams of scientists across the world using data collected by various spacecraft, both on the ground and in space. With data collected by NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) X-ray observatory of GRB 221009A, a team of scientists is learning more about the gamma-ray burst’s origins and characteristics.