A mega-electron volt emission line in the spectrum of a gamma-ray burst.

A long gamma-ray burst (GRB) is observed when the collapse of a massive star produces an ultrarelativistic outflow pointed toward Earth. Gamma-ray spectra of long GRBs are smooth, typically modeled by joint power-law segments describing a continuum, with no detected spectral lines. We report a significant (>6σ) narrow emission feature at ~10 mega-electron volts (MeV) in the spectrum of the bright GRB 221009A.