| Subject: Re: gamma-ray burst |
Author:
blobrana
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Date Posted: 18:40:37 04/01/03 Tue
In reply to:
Mike buzz
's message, "gamma-ray burst" on 17:14:23 03/22/03 Sat
>Scientists have witnessed the death of a gigantic
>star and the birth of a , quite possibly , brand new,
>spinning black hole.
>
Birth of Black Hole
A NASA satellite has detected the brightest burst of energy ever seen in space. The Gamma-Ray Burst, roughly 2 billion light-years away, briefly outshone the entire universe in gamma rays , likely signaled the birth of a black hole.
This was the second closest known gamma-ray burst (GRB).
Its afterglow of radiation in various wavelengths, including visible light, was so bright that researchers have yet to pinpoint its exact location.
The burst, now named GRB 030329, lit up at 6:37 a.m. EST on Saturday, March 29. It was detected by NASA's High-Energy Transient Explorer (HETE), which announced the event to ground-based astronomers for observation in other wavelengths. Hundreds of professionals and amateurs watched the spectacle.
For more than 30 seconds it produced more gamma rays than the entire universe.
Two hours later, its afterglow remained more than a trillion times brighter than the Sun. "With scores of observations now completed and more on the way, we should get a rather clear picture of what triggered this burst,"
said George Ricker of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Mass., and principal investigator for the HETE mission.
Recent evidence has all but convinced theorists that a GRB results from a massive stellar explosion that leads to a tremendous collapse and the formation of a black hole. Most bursts come from the early universe, where such activity was more common. At its peak, the afterglow might have been visible to the naked eye from Earth, astronomers said, but by the time they looked it had dimmed to the point that viewing it required at least a good-sized backyard telescope.
"Few amateur astronomers are treated to an event that originated billions of light years away,"
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