Monstrous gamma-ray burst blinds space equipment and stuns scientists.
Our solar system was hit by a gamma-ray burst, dubbed the "brightest of all time," last fall, which was approximately 70 times brighter than any other gamma-ray explosion. The burst was so bright that it temporarily blinded gamma-ray instruments in space. Gamma-ray bursts occur when a supermassive star collapses under its own weight, forming a black hole, which then burps out two powerful jets of high-energy gamma radiation traveling at near the speed of light, in opposite directions. This event only occurs once every 10,000 years, and scientists worldwide have been studying the data to measure and re-measure the GRB's brightness.