Gail Freeman

X-ray astronomer Dr Phil Evans, who leads the University of Leicester's involvement in Swift, said: "We were really lucky to see something like this. We estimate that events this bright occur roughly once every thousand years.

"By studying the evolution of this astonishingly bright GRB in great detail, we can learn a lot about the physics of a blast wave.

"Just like slow-mo cameras reveal details about movement, breaking our data into small time pieces allows us to see how the GRB changes and learn more."

The Swift team said its Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a satellite telescope designed to study GRBs from space, was initially unable to observe the burst because the Earth was obstructing its view.

However, 55 minutes later, when the satellite's orbit allowed it to have a clear view of the GRB, its systems successfully detected it and created images of it.