NASA’s Fermi, Swift Capture Revolutionary Gamma-Ray Burst

NASA’s Fermi, Swift Capture Revolutionary Gamma-Ray Burst

On Dec. 11, 2021, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected a blast of high-energy light from the outskirts of a galaxy around 1 billion light-years away. The event has rattled scientists’ understanding of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most powerful events in the universe. This burst is called GRB 211211A.

Many research groups have delved into the observations collected by Swift, Fermi, the Hubble Space Telescope, and others. Some have suggested the burst’s oddities could be explained by the merger of a neutron star with another massive object, like a black hole.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center 

Sophia Roberts (AIMM): Lead Producer

Jeanette Kazmierczak (University of Maryland College Park): Lead Science Writer

Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park): Science Writer

Aurore Simonet (Sonoma State University): Artist

Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle): Animator

Duration: 2 minutes, 21 seconds

Release Date: Dec. 7, 2022

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