The locations of all 2704 Gamma Ray Bursts detected by BATSE in the 9 year mission.
Click on image for full size
NASA, Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, BATSE Team

Gamma Ray Bursts - The Most Powerful Objects in the Universe?

In the 1960's, the United States launched a series of satellites to look for very high energy photons, called Gamma Rays, that are produced whenever a nuclear bomb explodes. These satellites soon detected many bursts of Gamma Rays, but they were not coming from explosions on Earth. They were coming from outer space.

Modern satellites, like the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and NASA's Swift mission, have now detected thousands of these Gamma Ray Bursts. They happen about once a day and come from all over the sky, as the map shows. There seem to be two main types of bursts. Some are short, lasting less than 2 seconds. Others are longer, bursting for as long as 1000 seconds. We now believe that all Gamma Ray Bursts come from high-energy explosions that create black holes in distant galaxies. The two types of bursts come from two different ways to make a black hole.

Short Gamma Ray Bursts seem to come from binary systems, where two neutron stars are orbiting each other. These collapsed stars slowly lose energy and eventually merge together to form a black hole. The gamma rays come from leftover debris falling into the black hole.

Long Gamma Ray Bursts come from the deaths of stars that are between 50 and 100 times the mass of the Sun. At the end of their lives, these massive stars collapse and explode as a type of supernova that is unusually bright, called a hypernova. The gamma rays shoot out along jets from these explosions, which sometimes point toward the Earth.

Last modified December 14, 2005 by Travis Metcalfe.

You might also be interested in:

Traveling Nitrogen Classroom Activity Kit

Check out our online store - minerals, fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items!...more

Neutron Stars

Neutron Stars are the end point of a massive star's life. When a really massive star runs out of nuclear fuel in its core the core begins to collapse under gravity. When the core collapses the entire star...more

Small Satellite Takes on Large Thunderstorms

Firefly, it's called, this new small satellite mission sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). It's designed to help solve the mystery of the most powerful natural particle accelerator in Earth's...more

Gamma Ray Bursts - The Most Powerful Objects in the Universe?

In the 1960's, the United States launched a series of satellites to look for very high energy photons, called Gamma Rays, that are produced whenever a nuclear bomb explodes. These satellites soon detected...more

Galaxies

The introduction of telescopes to the study of astronomy opened up the universe, but it took some time for astronomers to realize how vast the universe could be. Telescopes revealed that our night sky...more

Spiral Galaxies

Spiral galaxies may remind you of pinwheels turning slowly as though in some intergalactic breeze. They are rotating disks of gas, dust and stars. Through a telescope or binoculars, the bright nucleus...more

White Dwarfs

White Dwarfs are the remnants of stars that were massive enough to stay alive using nuclear fusion in their cores, but not massive enough to blow apart in a Type II supernova. When stars like our own sun...more

Algol

What's in a Name: Arabic for "head of the demon" Claim to Fame: Represents Medusa's eye in Perseus. A special variable star that "winks" every 3 days. Type of Star: Blue-white Main Sequence Star, and...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA