Brightest Cosmic Explosion Ever Witnessed Puzzles Scientists — November 22, 2013

Brightest Cosmic Explosion Ever Witnessed Puzzles Scientists

Astronomers in April, 2013 saw the biggest and brightest cosmic explosion ever witnessed, a large gamma-ray burst.

This image is an artist’s rendering of a gamma-ray burst caused by a massive star exhausting its nuclear fuel, exploding and collapsing to form a black hole.

This event is known as GRB 130427A, the biggest and brightest cosmic explosion ever witnessed, which astronomers saw in April, 2013. The exploding star from 3.8 billion light-years away has caused scientists to question what we know about gamma-ray bursts.

“Some of our theories are just going down the drain,” said Charles Dermer, an astrophysicist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

Read more here.

Image courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

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