GRB221009A surrounded by dust rings, pictured by the XMM-Newton X-ray space observatory
ESA/XMM-Newton/M. Rigoselli (INAF)
The unexpectedly powerful light from the brightest space explosion ever seen may mean that space is more transparent than we thought.
Last year, astronomers witnessed a flash of gamma rays that was brighter than anything they had previously measured. By comparing it with other gamma ray bursts, researchers estimated that such a bright event would happen only once every 10,000 years.
This flash, called GRB221009A, was made of up of photons, or light particles, some of which had …