Professor Matthew Bailes
Posted on 10/19/2007 6:48:15 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Australian researcher professor Matthew Bailes from Swinburne University... "We think it must be an explosion from something very compact like a supernova core or merging neutron stars because we know the size of the emitting region is less than 1,500 km" ...Or it could be something even more exotic and theoretical, like a final burst of radio emission from an evaporating mini black hole... "But this very, very bright flash occurred just once, picked up simultaneously across three detectors, and at a distance of up to three billion light years away, so it could be something completely new." ...Bailes sees similarities to gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). "They could have a similar origin because they are both very bright and transient, although they are at opposite ends of the spectrum. In fact, we checked the catalogues to see if a GRB was coincident with this event, but found none." But he's not dismissing the possibility that the object may be what he calls the "radio counterpart to a GRB"... "If we could identify the host galaxy, then this single pulse would tell us how many electrons there are between the earth and the object and that would enable us to get a good estimation of the baryonic matter, the ordinary matter, in the universe."
(Excerpt) Read more at thestatesman.net ...
Professor Matthew Bailes
Given the fact that GRBs happen about every 100 seconds and just one within our galaxy would kill us all, it makes life pretty amazing.
L
That depends on how they are aimed. GRB's shoot out from the poles, so you have to be in line with the "north" or "south" poles of the emitter. Otherwise, we WOULD be cooked for sure.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
