While there have been many firsts in space exploration lately, a new one was added today. Collisions of stars containing at least one neutron star occur in the millimeter radiofrequency wavelength range, scientists say. observed for the first time in history. The collision allowed us to see the most energetic and bright gamma-ray burst ever seen.

The lights from the collision in question reached Earth. After 6 to 9 billion years of travel and was captured by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in November 2021. The brief gamma-ray burst was the first result of working with ALMA to capture such an event.

Here is the first observed gamma burst, identified as GRB 211106A:

Gamma-ray bursts are among the most powerful explosions known in the universe. In these eruptions, in just 10 seconds, the sun will More than the energy it has emitted in 10 billion years it reveals. These explosions, seen in the video above, also scatter elements heavier than iron out into space. So much so that even the gold rings we wear on our fingers are actually a product of this stellar disaster.

Short-term gamma-ray burst (SGRB), which occurs when neutron stars collide. It only takes milliseconds. That’s why the images we see above show moments of several milliseconds that we captured billions of light-years ago. Not all pre-ALMA millimeter telescopes were sensitive enough to capture these distant eruptions.