This image shows the aftermath of the accretion of a star by a supermassive black hole. Black holes … [+]
When a star reaches the end of its life it explodes as a supernova. It’s inevitable. It’s the fate of all stars. And yet supernova hasn’t been seen in our galaxy since the 17th century.
What has just been seen is something even rarer and more confusing to astronomers—a cosmic explosion a whopping 10 times brighter than a supernova.
It’s also been going on for three years, not the few months or so that supernovas are visible for.
What is the origin of the latest “BOAT”—the brightest of all time?
That’s the question being asked by astronomers about AT2021lwx, which has been detected by a network of telescopes eight billion light years distant. Since the universe is expanding, AT2021lwx actually exploded when the universe was around six billion years old.
What is AT2021lwx?
If it’s not a supernova then it could be what astronomer call a “tidal disruption event” when a star falls into—and gets obliterated by—a supermassive black hole. However, AT2021lwx is three times brighter than any known TDE.
Published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, a new paper argues that AT2021lwx could be a an explosion caused by a vast cloud of gas violently disrupted by a supermassive black hole.
It’s thought that fragments of the gas are swallowed by the black hole, sending shockwaves through what’s left.
“It could be that these events, although extremely rare, are so energetic that they are key processes to how the centres of galaxies change over time,” said Dr Philip Wiseman, Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, who led the research.
Gamma-ray burst GRB 221009A probably signals the birth of a new black hole, formed at the core of a … [+]
How AT2021lwx was detected
The Zwicky Transient Facility in California first detected AT2021lwx in 2020. “We came upon this by chance, as it was flagged by our search algorithm when we were searching for a type of supernova,” said Wiseman. “Most supernovae and tidal disruption events only last for a couple of months before fading away. For something to be bright for two plus years was immediately very unusual.”
What was GRB 221009A?
AT2021lwx comes in wake of the recent reveal that the most powerful class of explosions in the universe—a gamma-ray burst—reached the solar system on Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022. Although it lasted only 10 hours, GRB 221009A was 70 times brighter than any yet seen and said to be a once in 10,000 years event.
Gamma-ray bursts—jets of particles accelerated into space at near-light speed—are thought to originate in supernovas, but none were seen in the immediate aftermath of the explosion’s detection.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
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