Events on March 19 in history

GRB 080319B (March 19, 2008)

GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed.

GRB 080319B was a gamma-ray burst (GRB) detected by the Swift satellite at 06:12 UTC on March 19, 2008. The burst set a new record for the farthest object that was observable with the naked eye: it had a peak visual apparent magnitude of 5.7 and remained visible to human eyes for approximately 30 seconds. The magnitude was brighter than 9.0 for approximately 60 seconds.

If viewed from 1 AU away, it would have had a peak apparent magnitude of −67.57 (21 quadrillion times brighter than the Sun seen from Earth).

References

GRB 080319B

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Events on 2008

11 Jun

Canadian Indian residential school system
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a historic official apology to Canada's First Nations in regard to abuses at a Canadian Indian residential school.
7 Aug

South Ossetia
The start of the Russo-Georgian War over the territory of South Ossetia.
29 Sep

Dow Jones Industrial Average
Following the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual, The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 777.68 points, the largest single-day point loss in its history.
29 Oct

Northwest Airlines
Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, creating the world's largest airline and reducing the number of US legacy carriers to five.
10 Nov

Phoenix (spacecraft)
Over five months after landing on Mars, NASA declares the Phoenix mission concluded after communications with the lander were lost.

Events on March 19 in history

GRB 080319B (March 19, 2008)

References

Choose Another Date

Events on 2008

Canadian Indian residential school system

South Ossetia

Dow Jones Industrial Average

Northwest Airlines

Phoenix (spacecraft)