Astronomers Link Old Stars And Mysterious Cosmic Explosions
Science Daily
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Cosmic gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe, have the extreme brilliance of a billion billion Suns and occur several times a day.
But they are not all created equal. For several decades astronomers have known that two types exist--long ones that last for tens or hundreds of seconds, and short bursts, which last a few milliseconds to a second. Intense research over the last decade has shown that long bursts are the death throes of massive stars in distant, young, and vigorously star forming galaxies.
The origin of the short gamma-ray bursts, however, has been shrouded in mystery until now. Edo Berger, a Hubble post-doctoral fellow at the Carnegie Observatories, is lead author of the first study that accurately pinpoints a short gamma-ray burst to an old dead galaxy, implicating a population of old neutron stars as the sources of these explosions. The study appears in the December 15, 2005, issue of Nature.
Jan 04, 2006
Science Daily
________
Cosmic gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe, have the extreme brilliance of a billion billion Suns and occur several times a day.
But they are not all created equal. For several decades astronomers have known that two types exist--long ones that last for tens or hundreds of seconds, and short bursts, which last a few milliseconds to a second. Intense research over the last decade has shown that long bursts are the death throes of massive stars in distant, young, and vigorously star forming galaxies.
The origin of the short gamma-ray bursts, however, has been shrouded in mystery until now. Edo Berger, a Hubble post-doctoral fellow at the Carnegie Observatories, is lead author of the first study that accurately pinpoints a short gamma-ray burst to an old dead galaxy, implicating a population of old neutron stars as the sources of these explosions. The study appears in the December 15, 2005, issue of Nature.
Jan 04, 2006
