Scientists Spot Brightest Energy Burst Ever Detected in Space

And the nerds are STOKED.

Super Duper

Scientists have discovered the brightest energy burst ever detected in space — and Astronomy Twitter is abuzz over the electrifying finding.

As Vice reports, this uber-bright gamma ray burst (GRB), which are huge bursts of energy that occur during major galactic events such as star deaths, was detected by both NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory at England's University of Leicester.

"Brightest GRB ever just dropped," University of Alabama astrophysicist Marcos Santander tweeted.

Phil Evans, an astronomer at the U of Leicester that works with the Swift Gamma Ray Burst satellite to find this exact sort of thing, was even more hyperbolic.

"It's bright. Really bright. Like, stupidly really bright," he tweeted. "It turns out my analysis codes weren't really built for things this bright."

BFDs

In emails with Vice, Evans emphasized just how big a deal this newly-found GRB is — and how long it's going to take to fully grasp its importance.

Dubbed GRB 221009A, this burst is "clearly the brightest GRB we've seen in X-rays, at least at the time after the initial explosion that we’ve observed it," the astronomer told Vice.

"The new GRB 221009A is something around 1,000 times brighter than the typical GRB and a few hundred times brighter than the brightest ones seen before — but this is only true in X-rays," he continued. "In gamma-rays it is one of the brightest seen (according to the report from the Fermi telescope team)."

Qualifiers aside, it's clear from the astronomy community's reaction that this GRB is a BFD — and we, like them, love to see it.

More space telescope news: NASA Convenes Experts to Discuss James Webb Camera 'Anomaly'