What is the size of the largest gamma-ray burst? According to the paper, a “unusually intense long-duration gamma-ray burst…unlikely to be replicated in our lifetime” was identified using the Swift Observatory by a multinational team of researchers lead by Pennsylvania State University (Penn State). This discovery has already been touted as the brightest gamma-ray burst on record, GRB 221009A, and could help scientists better understand gamma-ray bursts, which occur after a star dies and are known as the universe’s most powerful explosions.Image from the Swift X-Ray Telescope of the afterglow of GRB 221009A, the brightest gamma-ray burst every recorded.