Gamma-ray Bursts
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NASA
Understanding Cosmic Explosions: StarBurst Arrives at NASA for Testing
StarBurst, a wide-field gamma ray observatory, arrived at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, March 4 for environmental testing and final instrument integration. The instrument is designed to detect the initial emission of short gamma-ray bursts, a key electromagnetic indicator of neutron star mergers. “Gamma-ray bursts are among the most powerful explosions in the universe, and they serve as cosmic beacons that help…
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NASA
Gamma-ray Bursts: Harvesting Knowledge From the Universe’s Most Powerful Explosions
The most powerful events in the known universe – gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) – are short-lived outbursts of the highest-energy light. They can erupt with a quintillion (a 10 followed by 18 zeros) times the luminosity of our Sun. Now thought to announce the births of new black holes, they were discovered by accident. Two neutron stars begin to merge in…
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