Astronomy Picture of the Day 12-19-02

NASA ^ | 12-19-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 December 19

RAPTOR Images GRB 021211
Credit: P. Wozniak, W.T. Vestrand, et al., RAPTOR Project, LANL

Explanation: On December 11 astronomers found one of the brightest and most distant explosions in the Universe - a gamma-ray burst - hiding in the glare of a relatively nearby star. The earliest image of the burst's visible light was caught by an earthbound RAPTOR (RAPid Telescopes for Optical Response). The two exposures inset above were taken by a RAPTOR unit about 65 seconds (left) and 9 minutes (top right) after high-energy radiation from the burst, dutifully cataloged as GRB 021211, was identified by the orbiting HETE-2 satellite. One of only two optical transients (OTs) ever found at times so close to a burst's gamma-ray emission, the fading visible light source is indicated by arrows, blended with the image of foreground stars toward the constellation Canis Minor. The RAPTOR unit (lower inset) is designed with peripheral low resolution cameras and a central, sensitive high resolution imager, in analogy with a predator's vision. In the future, the RAPTOR project expects its innovative instruments to be able to independently discover and catalog a host of cosmic things that go bump in the night.

[petuniasevan]

Gamma-ray bursts are one of those great mysteries of astronomy. The only thing known that can cause such extremely energetic events is collisions between neutron stars or black holes. That doesn't mean it's the right answer, though. We tend to think we know a lot about the Universe. That's an illusion. It's as if we're on the shore of a vast ocean but only have just recently even ventured to get our toes wet.

It was only 5 years ago that astronomers determined that gamma-ray bursts were indeed distant, extragalactic events. Discovery may be "Smoking Gun" in Gamma Ray Burst Mystery

[petuniasevan]

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Thanks for the ping!

[MeekOneGOP]

[Soaring Feather]

It was only 5 years ago that astronomers determined that gamma-ray bursts were indeed distant, extragalactic events.

Amazing just amazing! Thank you for this thread.

[trussell]

Very interesting. Thank you petuniasevan.

trussell