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Today in History: Record-breaking gamma-ray burst visible to Earth

3/19/2026

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Summary

Story summary

On March 19, 2008, the gamma-ray burst GRB 080319B was detected by the Swift satellite, marking a historic moment as the farthest observable event with the naked eye. It reached a peak visual magnitude of 5.8, visible for about 30 seconds, and was brighter than magnitude 9.0 for approximately one minute.

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Story summary

On March 19, 2008, the gamma-ray burst GRB 080319B was detected by the Swift satellite, marking a historic moment as the farthest observable event with the naked eye. It reached a peak visual magnitude of 5.8, visible for about 30 seconds, and was brighter than magnitude 9.0 for approximately one minute.