A Powerful Gamma Ray Burst
Credit & Copyright: S. R. Kulkarni, S. G. Djorgovski
(Caltech),
the Caltech GRB Team ,
NASA
Explanation:
Gamma-ray bursts are thought to be the most powerful explosions in
the Universe, yet the cause of these high-energy flashes
remains a mystery.
Blindingly
bright for
space-based gamma-ray detectors the burst sources are
so faint at visible wavelengths that
large telescopes and sensitive cameras are required to search for them.
The faint optical flash from
a relatively intense gamma-ray burst
detected on December 14th of last year seems to have originated in
the galaxy indicated in
this Hubble Space Telescope image - taken
months after the burst had faded from view.
Astronomers have recently announced that
this galaxy's spectrum, recorded using the large
Keck telescope atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea,
indicates that it lies at a distance of about
12 billion light-years.
The energy required to produce the observed flash of gamma-rays from
this distance would be staggering!
Some estimates suggest that in a few seconds the
burster released the equivalent energy of several hundred
supernovae (exploding stars).
The eruption of such a large amount of energy in such a short time is
so extreme that even
exotic theoretical models
of the bursters are being challenged.
Could the bursts be caused by
the cataclysmic merger of
neutron stars
with black holes ... or something as yet unknown?
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
