Massive explosion found in deep space

 Houston Chronicle:

Astronomers recently discovered the "BOAT," or the brightest of all time: a cosmic explosion they say may possibly be the most powerful ever recorded. Scientists believe the record-breaking gamma-ray burst was likely triggered by a massive supernova explosion that gave birth to a black hole approximately 2.4 billion light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Sagitta.

The celestial event, dubbed GRB 221009A, was first detected on the morning of Oct. 9 by multiple X-ray and gamma-ray space telescopes, including NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space telescope, Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, and the Wind spacecraft, according to a NOIRLab news release. Upon its discovery, two independent teams of astronomers set out to obtain data on the historic blast. The first observation used the FLAMINGOS-2 imaging spectograph, while the second used the Gemini Multi-Object Spectograph.

"The exceptionally long GRB 221009A is the brightest [gamma-ray burst] ever recorded and its afterglow is smashing all records at all wavelengths," said Brendan O'Connor, a researcher with the University of Maryland and George Washington University and one of the teams's leaders, in a NOIRLab release. "Because this burst is so bright and also nearby, we think this is a once-in-a-century opportunity to address some of the most fundamental questions regarding these explosions, from the formation of black holes to tests of dark matter models."
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There is an artist's rendition of the event as well as a picture giving the location of the exploding planet. 

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