While many firsts have been achieved in space exploration lately, a new one has been added today. Scientists have observed for the first time in history the collision of stars containing at least one neutron star, in the millimeter radio frequency wavelength range. The collision allowed us to see the most energetic and bright gamma-ray burst ever observed.
The lights of the collision reached Earth after 6 to 9 billion years of travel and were captured by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in November 2021. The short gamma-ray burst was the first result of work with ALMA to capture such an event.
Here is the first observed gamma burst, identified as GRB 211106A:
Gamma radiation bursts are among the most powerful explosions known in the universe. These bursts release more energy in just 10 seconds than the Sun has emitted in 10 billion years. These explosions, which we have seen in the video above, also scatter elements heavier than iron into the universe. So much so that even the gold rings we wear on our fingers are actually a product of this stellar disaster.
The short-duration gamma-ray burst (SGRB), which occurs when neutron stars collide, lasts only milliseconds. Therefore, the images we see above show a few millisecond moments that we recorded billions of light years ago. Not all millimeter telescopes prior to ALMA were sensitive enough to capture these distant bursts.
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