                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2022 October 15

                                 GRB 221009A
              Image Credit: NASA, DOE, Fermi LAT Collaboration

   Explanation: Gamma-ray burst GRB 221009A likely signals the birth of a
   new black hole, formed at the core of a collapsing star long ago in the
   distant universe. The extremely powerful blast is depicted in this
   animated gif constructed using data from the Fermi Gamma Ray Space
   Telescope. Fermi captured the data at gamma-ray energies, detecting
   photons with over 100 million electron volts. In comparison visible
   light photons have energies of about 2 electron volts. A steady, high
   energy gamma-ray glow from the plane of our Milky Way galaxy runs
   diagonally through the 20 degree wide frame at the left, while the
   transient gamma-ray flash from GRB 221009A appears at center and then
   fades. One of the brightest gamma-ray bursts ever detected GRB 221009A
   is also close as far as gamma-ray bursts go, but still lies about 2
   billion light-years away. In low Earth orbit Fermi's Large Area
   Telescope recorded gamma-ray photons from the burst for more than 10
   hours as high-energy radiation from GRB 221009A swept over planet Earth
   last Sunday, October 9.

                      Tomorrow's picture: barred spiral
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

