On October 29 and 30, 2024, the Khatem Observatory in Abu Dhabi successfully detected three rare gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), significant cosmic events resulting from massive stellar explosions.
The first event, designated GRB 241029A, occurred on October 29 at 02:20 UTC. Detected by space telescopes including Fermi and SVOM, the observatory aimed its 14-inch telescope at the source 13.3 hours later. After 84 minutes of observation, a new light source was identified with a magnitude of 19.9, originating from a star over 20 times the mass of the Sun, located 7.5 billion light-years away.
The second burst, GRB 241030A, took place on October 30 at 05:48 UTC. The Khatem Observatory captured a new object with a magnitude of 18.06, situated 9 billion light-years from Earth, 8.9 hours after the initial detection.
Later that same day, at 18:34 UTC, a third event, GRB 241030B, was recorded. The observatory quickly redirected its telescope to the source, capturing images 24 minutes post-burst. The new object, with a magnitude of 18.9, faded rapidly and disappeared from view within 60 minutes. Spectroscopic analysis revealed this star was 11.1 billion light-years away, suggesting it exploded near the universe's infancy, given the universe's estimated age of 13.7 billion years.
The Khatem Observatory announced it shared its findings with the scientific community via the General Coordinates Network (GCN) under NASA, which connects astronomers worldwide. The observatory also collaborates with the International Astronomy Center and the American University of Sharjah, involving students in analyzing these significant cosmic events.