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Salon
Salon
Science
Matthew Rozsa

Gamma ray pulse sweeps Earth

Artist’s interpretation of the calcium-rich supernova 2019ehk. Shown in orange is the calcium-rich material created in the explosion. Purple coloring represents gas shedded by the star right before the explosion, which then produced bright X-ray emission when the material collided with the supernova shockwave. (Aaron M. Geller, Northwestern University)

Earth just got zapped. 

On Sunday a gamma-ray burst (GRB), the most powerful class of explosions in the universe, caused a wave of gamma rays and X-rays to sweep over Earth. It was also possibly the brightest explosion of its nature ever recorded. The event was reported in the Astronomers Telegram.

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