GRB 130427A: a Nearby Ordinary Monster

Long-duration Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are bright flashes of gamma rays associated with a prolonged release of radiation at longer wavelengths. They are an extremely rare outcome of the collapse of massive stars, and are typically found in the distant Universe. Due to its intrinsic luminosity (L 3x10^53 erg s-1) and its relative proximity (z = 0:34), GRB 130427A was a unique event that reached the highest fluence observed in the gamma-ray band, both by the Swift and by the Fermi satellites. The extremely bright afterglow of this event was followed up in extraordinary detail at lower energies, from the soft X-rays to the radio band, providing an unprecedented opportunity to compare models with observations. Here we present a comprehensive multiwavelength view of GRB 130427A with Swift, the 2-m Liverpool and Faulkes telescopes and by other ground-based facilities, highlighting the evolution of the burst emission from the prompt to the afterglow phase. The properties of GRB 130427A are similar to those of more typical, high-redshift GRBs, suggesting that a common central engine is responsible for producing GRBs in both the contemporary and the early Universe.