The energy given off by a massive explosion in space traveled halfway across the Milky Way galaxy and briefly distorted Earth's upper atmosphere.

On Dec. 27, astronomers recorded the magnetar explosion that was between 20 and 100 times larger than any previously recorded explosion, said Peter Meszaros, professor of astronomy and astrophysics.

The gamma rays given off in the blast caused changes in conductivity in Earth's ionosphere -- the outermost region of Earth's atmosphere, Meszaros said.

"Noise" could be observed in different types of communication due to this disruption, he added.

Only four or five explosions of this type have been previously recorded, Meszaros said.

"A magnetar is a neutron star with a very strong magnetic field," he said, "being 30 to 100 times larger than a pulsar."

The fields given off by magnetars are more than a trillion times larger than those given off by solar flares, which routinely distort Earth's magnetic field, he added.

Many different telescopes recorded the blast, which was so bright that the most sensitive satellites that were aimed in that direction had to shut down their monitoring devices, Meszaros said.

NASA's Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer, run by Penn State from the Mission Operations Center in State College, was one of the satellites that was forced to shut down, he added.

"Swift was designed to look at bursts that came from much farther away, bursts that originate in distant galaxies and are more energetic," Meszaros said.

Swift's incredibly sensitive instruments were forced to shut down so the equipment would not be damaged, but it was back online to record information on the tail end of the burst, Meszaros said.

"There was a huge spike ... and then a long ringing or oscillation, which Swift was able to record," said David Burrows, professor of astronomy and astrophysics.

Not all of Swift's instruments were able to record information, he added.

"The X-ray Telescope was unable to record data because the burst was too close to the sun," Burrows said.

Meszaros said other satellites that were not in position to record information on the burst were still able to get some readings, because the light that was given off was so bright that it reflected off the moon.

The blast is believed to have been caused by the reconnecting of the magnetic field lines around the star, Meszaros said.

"The poles come together to cancel out the magnetic field," he said. "This produces a lot of energy. The magnetic fields become unstable and dissipate in an explosion."

This flare in energy is caused by the destruction of the magnetic field, Meszaros said.

Charged particles are released that travel through space, he said, some of which reached Earth.

The Swift satellite is designed to study gamma-ray bursts and allow astronomers to learn what causes these huge explosions, Meszaros said.

"There are at least two different types of gamma-ray bursts," Burrows said. Those lasting longer than two seconds are believed to be caused by hypernovae explosions, which occur when a very large star explodes and collapses into a black hole. Those lasting less than two seconds are more difficult to study and remain largely a mystery to astronomers.

A gamma-ray burst "could be a magnetar burst, or it could be two neutron stars coming together to form a black hole," Burrows said.

The explosion in December gave off a short gamma-ray burst, Meszaros said.

This type of explosion may help to unravel the mystery about the origins of short gamma-ray bursts, Meszaros added.