The Host Galaxies of Long Duration GRBs
Explanation:
What causes the powerful explosions knows as gamma-ray bursts?
Astrophysicists still aren't sure, but the longest duration
gamma-ray bursts
(GRBs) seem to involve very massive stars.
A
new clue indicating this was uncovered recently by a series of images taken
by the
orbiting
Hubble Space Telescope.
These images,
shown above, indicate that
long duration GRBs typically appear to come from galaxies and
regions of galaxies with bright regions rich with
star formation and bright, massive stars.
Long GRBs are therefore different than many types of
supernovas,
which occur more uniformly distributed in their host galaxies.
Since such active star forming regions are
relatively rare in our
Milky Way Galaxy, the chances of a
nearby GRB affecting life on Earth are
relatively slight.
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.
