 An image of GRB 230307A with the red dot on the upper left corner being the gamma ray burst's near-infrared afterglow and the galaxy on the lower right corner being its former home galaxy | |
| Event type | Gamma ray burst |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Mensa |
| Right ascension | 04h 03m 26.24s |
| Declination | −75° 22′ 43.82″ |
| Distance | 900 million light years (comoving) |
| Redshift | 0.065 |
| Total energy output | 10-1000 KeV |
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GRB 230307A was an extremely bright, long duration gamma-ray burst (GRB), likely produced as a consequence of a neutron star merger or black hole - neutron star merger event. It lasted around three minutes,[1] and was observed to have a gamma ray fluence of 3×10−4 erg cm−2 in the 10 to 1000 KeV (electronvolt) range making it second only to GRB 221009A, which was an extremely bright and long duration gamma ray burst deemed to be the Brightest Of All Time. The burst was around 1000 times more powerful than a typical gamma-ray burst.[1] The burst had the second-highest gamma-ray fluence ever recorded.[2] The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) detected the chemical signature for tellurium (Te).[2][3] The neutron stars were once part of a spiral galaxy (host galaxy) but were kicked out via gravitational interactions. Then while outside of the main galaxy at a distance of 120,000 light years, they merged, creating GRB 230307A.[3]
230307A is the second brightest gamma ray burst detected in more than 50 years of observations and is located behind the Magellanic Bridge. Despite its long duration, it is most likely the result of the compact merger of a binary ejected from a galaxy in the local universe (redshift z=0.065).[4]
The observation of the spectra of heavy elements tellurium and lanthanide was reported from the settling dust of the event.[5]
- ^ a b "Neutron Star Merger Observed Creating Tellurium and Other Heavy Elements". Sci.News: Breaking Science News. 2023-10-26. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
- ^ a b Dichiara, S.; Tsang, D.; Troja, E.; Neill, D.; Norris, J. P.; Yang, Y.-H. (2023). "A Luminous Precursor in the Extremely Bright GRB 230307A". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 954 (1): L29. arXiv:2307.02996. Bibcode:2023ApJ...954L..29D. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acf21d.
- ^ a b "NASA's Webb Makes First Detection of Heavy Element From Star Merger - NASA". 2023-10-25. Retrieved 2023-10-26.
- ^ Mereghetti, Sandro; Rigoselli, Michela; Salvaterra, Ruben; Tiengo, Andrea; Pacholski, Dominik (2023). "XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL observations of the bright GRB 230307A : Vanishing of the local absorption and limits on the dust in the Magellanic Bridge". The Astrophysical Journal. 956 (2): 97. arXiv:2307.13514. Bibcode:2023ApJ...956...97M. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acf846.
- ^ Levan, Andrew; Gompertz, Benjamin P.; Salafia, Om Sharan; Bulla, Mattia; Burns, Eric; Hotokezaka, Kenta; Izzo, Luca; Lamb, Gavin P.; Malesani, Daniele B.; Oates, Samantha R.; Ravasio, Maria Edvige; Rouco Escorial, Alicia; Schneider, Benjamin; Sarin, Nikhil; Schulze, Steve (2023-10-25). "Heavy element production in a compact object merger observed by JWST". Nature. arXiv:2307.02098. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06759-1. ISSN 0028-0836.