Monster gamma-ray burst is detected 310 miles above Earth – and scientists say it’s the strongest EVER recorded in our planet’s atmosphere

It’s been just over a year since scientists revealed they had witnessed the brightest gamma-ray burst ever recorded – an event known as GRB 221009A.

Now, scientists say the “brightest of all” (or boat) has managed to cause disturbances in Earth’s ionosphere, about 310 miles (500 km) above our heads.

The ionosphere, a region extending approximately 50 to 400 miles above the Earth’s surface, is where our planet’s atmosphere meets space.

It plays a vital role in protecting the Earth from harmful radiation and in enabling wireless communications.

Worryingly, the extent of the damage to our planet’s ionosphere remains unclear.

The new study was conducted by an international team of researchers led by Dr. Stefano Piersanti at the University of L’Aquila in Italy.

The researchers say in their paper: “The Earth’s atmosphere is exposed to the influence of cosmic explosions that produce high-energy gamma ray bursts.”

“Here, we report evidence of intense upside (~500 km) ionospheric perturbation caused by a sudden large ionospheric perturbation.”

Previous studies have shown that GRBs are short-lived bursts of gamma-ray light, the most energetic form of light with the smallest wavelengths.

These explosions last from a few milliseconds to several minutes, and shine hundreds of times brighter than a typical supernova and about a million trillion times brighter than the Sun.

GRBs were first discovered in the 1960s, and have since fascinated scientists around the world.

However, they have also launched a search to find out the causes of these violent explosions.

Astronomers believe that most GRBs occur when a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel, collapses under its own weight, and forms a black hole.

The GRB in question – 221009A on October 9 last year – had a duration of about seven minutes, but were detectable for more than 10 hours after the initial detection.

It originated from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, and traveled an estimated 1.9 billion years to reach Earth – less than the current distance to its starting point, because the universe is expanding.

GRB 221009A sparked several space-based X-ray and gamma-ray observatories, including NASA’s Swift and Fermi satellites, as well as INTEGRAL operated by the European Space Agency (ESA).

“GRB tracking has been observed by most telescopes operating in space and on Earth,” the authors add.

Experts found evidence that “ionospheric perturbation” created a large variation in the electric field in the Earth’s upper ionosphere.

Both events are associated with GRB 221009A on October 9, suggesting a gamma-ray burst was the cause.

Furthermore, small devices known as GNSS receivers stationed on the ground in the Mediterranean region recorded a “significant increase” in total electron content in the early afternoon UK time.

The researchers concluded that GRB221009A “profoundly affected the Earth’s ionospheric conductivity.”

Astrophysicists have written in the past that the sheer force of GRBs could cause extinction-level events here on Earth, by “sterilizing” the planet.

Fortunately, the chance of this happening is small, according to the European Southern Observatory.

“Only if one exploded in our part of the Milky Way, and if Earth were in the narrow path of the beam, would half our planet be instantly sterilized by the deadly radiation,” she says.

The study was published today in the journal Nature Communications.