NASA Finds Evidence Of Antimatter Annihilation In Most Powerful Explosion After Big Bang

Scientists have discovered a gamma-ray burst (GRB), which they believe could be the most powerful explosion after the Big Bang. They are also speculating that it could also create a black hole. This unprecedented brightness has made this discovery famous. According to Space’s report, soon after its discovery, it was named the Brightest of All Time or the BOAT.

Experts believe the detection made by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope could result from matter and antimatter particles colliding at 99.9 per cent the speed of light. It was observed by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory on October 9, 2022, and it was named GRB 221009A.

“As long as we have been able to detect GRBs, there is no question that this GRB is the brightest we have ever witnessed by a factor of 10 or more,” said Wen-fai Fong, one of the discoverers of BOAT and associate professor of physics and astronomy and leader of the Fong group at Northwestern.

Experts believe that BOAT was launched by a supernova explosion, and is likely to be followed by the formation of a black hole. Research leader Maria Edvige Ravasio of Radboud University said in a statement, “A few minutes after the BOAT erupted, Fermi’s Gamma-ray Burst Monitor recorded an unusual energy peak that caught our attention.” “When I first saw that signal, it gave me goosebumps. Our analysis since then shows it to be the first high-confidence emission line ever seen in 50 years of studying GRBs,” Maria added.

The US Vela satellites spotted the first gamma-ray burst in 1967; it was officially confirmed two years later and made public in 1973. Since then, scientists have discovered numerous GRBs, confirming that these brief flashes of light have cosmic origins and are the most powerful explosions in the known universe.

GRBs are so powerful that if they exploded within a few thousand light-years of Earth, they could wipe out life on the planet by altering or destroying the atmosphere.

“After decades of studying these incredible cosmic explosions, we still don’t understand the details of how these jets work,” team member Elizabeth Hays, Fermi project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said.