Cambridge, MA – Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the universe, emitting huge amounts of high-energy radiation. For decades their origin was a mystery. Scientists now believe they ...

Gamma-ray bursts, as shown in this illustration, come from powerful astronomical events. NASA, ESA and M. Kornmesser When faraway stars explode, they send out flashes of energy called gamma-ray bursts ...

Hawaii astronomers using the Frederick C. Gillett Gemini Telescope on Mauna Kea have found the source of short flashes of gamma rays from outer space: a collision of two dead stars. For 35 years, ...

Two neutron stars begin to merge in this artist’s concept, blasting jets of high-speed particles. Collision events like this one create short gamma-ray bursts. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight ...

Recent observations with the Hubble Space Telescope point to highly energetic mergers of binary neutron stars or neutron/black hole pairs as the source of mysterious, short-duration gamma-ray bursts.

But astronomers puzzled by the lack of signatures of expected heavy elements. The impression I had was that consensus was Short gamma-ray bursts are caused by neutron star mergers and are the site of ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. A gamma-ray burst, the most powerful kind of explosion known in the universe, may have triggered ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. A white orb is seen with loopy lines trailing around it. Astronomers believe they have found a rare, massive flare that erupted ...

Scientists have pieced together the key elements of a gamma-ray burst, from star death to dramatic black hole birth, thanks to a March 29 explosion considered the “Rosetta stone” of such bursts. The ...

"The gamma-ray burst traveled through intergalactic space at the speed of light for eleven billion years, during which time the Sun and the planets were born." — Timothy Ferris, in the film version of ...

Amy Lien receives funding from the NASA Citizen Science Seed Funding Program. When faraway stars explode, they send out flashes of energy called gamma-ray bursts that are bright enough that telescopes ...

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 ...