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Long duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) release copious amounts of energyacross the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and so provide a window into theprocess of black hole formation from the collapse of a massive star. Over thelast forty years, our understanding of the GRB phenomenon has progresseddramatically; nevertheless, fortuitous circumstances occasionally arise thatprovide access to a regime not yet probed. GRB 080319B presented such anopportunity, with extraordinarily bright prompt optical emission that peaked ata visual magnitude of 5.3, making it briefly visible with the naked eye. It wascaptured in exquisite detail by wide-field telescopes, imaging the burstlocation from before the time of the explosion. The combination of these uniqueoptical data with simultaneous gamma-ray observations provides powerfuldiagnostics of the detailed physics of this explosion within seconds of itsformation. Here we show that the prompt optical and gamma-ray emissions fromthis event likely arise from different spectral components within the samephysical region located at a large distance from the source, implying anextremely relativistic outflow. The chromatic behaviour of the broadbandafterglow is consistent with viewing the GRB down the very narrow inner core ofa two-component jet that is expanding into a wind-like environment consistentwith the massive star origin of long GRBs. These circumstances can explain theextreme properties of this GRB.

GRB 080319B: A Naked-Eye Stellar Blast from the Distant Universe