Overview
- The record event persisted for nearly seven hours, far longer than the seconds-to-minutes durations typical of gamma-ray bursts.
- Space-based detection prompted coordinated follow-up with Gemini, Magellan, ESO’s Very Large Telescope, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, and X-ray instruments.
- Observations localized the afterglow to a massive, dust-rich host where visible light was blocked, leaving infrared and high-energy signals to be detected.
- Analysis finds a narrow jet aimed toward Earth traveling at least 99% of the speed of light as it punched through dense dust.
- Researchers outline multiple viable origins without a definitive answer, with the study and dataset published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters (DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ae1d67).