Powerful gamma-ray burst was aimed at Earth
Posted: Fri, Sep 12, 2008, 7:31 AM ET (1131 GMT)
A powerful gamma-ray burst detected earlier this year that created an afterglow briefly visible to the naked eye was aimed almost directly towards the Earth, scientists said this week. The burst, GRB 080319B, took place on March 19th and was detected by NASA's Swift spacecraft and several other satellites, and produced an optical afterglow that reached magnitude 5.3, despite being 7.5 billion light-years away. Scientists analyzing space- and ground-based observations found that the bursts's brightness came from a central narrow jet consisting of material traveling at 99.99995 percent the speed of light, aimed almost directly towards the Earth. Astronomers said they normally only see a wider, somewhat less energetic jet from such bursts, and don't know if all GRBs have a such a narrow, intense central jet.
A powerful gamma-ray burst detected earlier this year that created an afterglow briefly visible to the naked eye was aimed almost directly towards the Earth, scientists said this week. The burst, GRB 080319B, took place on March 19th and was detected by NASA's Swift spacecraft and several other satellites, and produced an optical afterglow that reached magnitude 5.3, despite being 7.5 billion light-years away. Scientists analyzing space- and ground-based observations found that the bursts's brightness came from a central narrow jet consisting of material traveling at 99.99995 percent the speed of light, aimed almost directly towards the Earth. Astronomers said they normally only see a wider, somewhat less energetic jet from such bursts, and don't know if all GRBs have a such a narrow, intense central jet.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Space Force adds Rocket Lab and Stoke Space to NSSL contract
Posted: Sun, Mar 30 9:19 AM ET (1319 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Thursday, April 3
How a kid from Pemberton helped lead a landmark commercial Moon landing
Australian Broadcasting Corporation — 6:00 am ET (1000 GMT) Eutelsat Begins OneWeb Services for the Aviation Market
ViaSatellite — 5:59 am ET (0959 GMT) Sierra Space demonstrates technology for Space Force satellite program
BizWest — 5:58 am ET (0958 GMT) Debrief: Vulcan On Deck
Aviation Week — 5:56 am ET (0956 GMT) ULA Targets April 9 For First Batch Of Amazon Kuiper Satellites
Aviation Week — 5:56 am ET (0956 GMT) |
