GRB 190114C
The Hubble Space Telescope caught the fading afterglow of GRB 190114C and its home galaxy on February 11 and March 12, 2019. The difference between these images reveals a faint, short-lived glow (center of the green circle) located about 800 light-years from the galaxy’s core. Blue colors beyond the core signal the presence of hot, young stars, indicating that this is a spiral galaxy somewhat similar to our own. The source of the burst is located about 4.5 billion light-years away in the direction of the constellation Fornax. | |
| Event type | Gamma-ray burst |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Delphinus |
| Right ascension | 03h 38m 1.63s |
| Declination | −26° 56′ 48.1″ |
| Redshift | 0.4245 ±0.0005 |
| Other designations | GRB 190114C |
| Related media on Commons | |
GRB 190114C was an extreme gamma-ray burst explosion from a galaxy 4.5 billion light years away (z=0.4245; magnitude=15.60est) near the Fornax constellation, that was initially detected in January 2019. The afterglow light emitted soon after the burst was found to be tera-electron volt radiation from inverse Compton emission, identified for the first time. According to the astronomers, "We observed a huge range of frequencies in the electromagnetic radiation afterglow of GRB 190114C. It is the most extensive to date for a gamma-ray burst." Also, according to other astronomers, "light detected from the object had the highest energy ever observed for a GRB: 1 Tera electron volt (TeV)—about one trillion times as much energy per photon as visible light"; another source stated, "the brightest light ever seen from Earth [to date]."