Posted on 10/01/2004 12:59:05 PM PDT by cogitator
After a Trio of Explosions Scientists say Supernova is Imminent
Three powerful recent blasts from three wholly different regions in space have left scientists scrambling. The blasts, which lasted only a few seconds, might be early alert systems for star explosions called supernovae, which could start appearing any day.
The first two blasts, called X-ray flashes, occurred on September 12 and 16. These were followed by a more powerful burst on September 24. The burst seems to be on the cusp between an X-ray flash and a full-fledged gamma ray burst, a discovery interesting in its own right. If these signals lead to supernovae, as expected, scientists would have a tool to predict star explosions, and researchers could watch explosions from start to finish.
A team led by Dr. George Ricker of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, detected the explosions with NASA's High-Energy Transient Explorer (HETE- 2). Science teams around the world, using space- and ground- based observatories, have joined in, torn and conflicted over which burst region to track most closely.
"Each burst has been beautiful," Ricker said. "Depending on how these evolve, they could support important theories about supernovae and gamma-ray bursts. These past two weeks have been like 'cock, fire, reload.' Nature keeps on delivering, and our HETE-2 satellite keeps on responding flawlessly," he said."
Gamma ray bursts are the most powerful explosions known other than the Big Bang. Many appear to be caused by the death of a massive star collapsing into a black hole. Others might be from merging black holes or neutron stars. In either case, the event likely produces twin, narrow jets in opposite directions, which carry off tremendous amounts of energy. If one of jets points to Earth, we see this energy as a gamma ray burst.
The lower-energy X-ray flashes might be gamma ray bursts viewed slightly off angle from the jet direction, somewhat similar to how a flashlight is less blinding when viewed at an angle. The majority of light particles from X-ray flashes, called photons, are X-rays, energetic, but not quite as powerful as gamma rays. Both types of bursts last only a few milliseconds to about a minute. HETE-2 detects the bursts, studies their properties, and provides a location, so other observatories can study the burst afterglow in detail.
The trio of bursts from the past few weeks has the potential of settling two long-standing debates. Some scientists say X- ray flashes are different beasts all together, not related to gamma-ray bursts and massive star explosions. Detecting a supernova in the region where the X-ray flash appeared would refute that belief, instead confirming the connection between the two. Follow-up observations of the September 24 burst, named GRB040924 for the date it was observed, are already solidifying the theory of a cosmic explosion continuum from X-ray flashes up through gamma ray bursts.
More interesting for supernova hunters is the fact X-ray flashes are closer to Earth than gamma ray bursts. While the connection between gamma ray bursts and supernovae has been made, these supernovae are too distant to study in detail. X- ray flashes might be signals for supernovae; scientists can actually sink their teeth into and observe in detail.
"Last year HETE-2 sealed the connection between gamma ray bursts and massive supernovae," said Prof. Stanford Woosley of the University of California at Santa Cruz, who has championed several theories concerning the physics of star explosions. "These two September bursts may be the first time we see an X-ray flash lead to a supernova."
"We all expect much more of this type of exciting science to come after the launch of Swift," said Dr. Anne Kinney, director of NASA's Universe Division. The Swift spacecraft, scheduled to launch no earlier than late October, contains three telescopes (gamma ray, X-ray and UV/optical) for quick burst detection and immediate follow-up observations of the afterglow.
HETE was built by MIT as a mission of opportunity under the NASA Explorer Program. It was built in collaboration among U.S. universities, Los Alamos National Laboratory, N.M., scientists and organizations in Brazil, France, India, Italy and Japan.
For information about HETE results and related animations on the Internet, visit: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2004/0930grb.html
The EPA may me junk my 69 Super Nova for excessive X and Gamma ray emissions.... how come these guy get by?
G-g-gamma ray PING!
Ping!
Only believers need apply.
I deliberately didn't put it as a hyperlink so mockers have to work a little harder to get there.
Thanks!
How many special people change
How many lives are living strange
Where were you when we were getting high?
Slowly walking down the hall
Faster than a cannon ball
Where were you while we were getting high?
Some day you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova in the sky
Some day you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova
A champagne supernova in the sky
Wake up the dawn and ask her why
A dreamer dreams she never dies
Wipe that tear away now from your eye
Slowly walking down the hall
Faster than a cannon ball
Where were you when we were getting high?
Some day you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova in the sky
Some day you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova
A champagne supernova in the sky
Cos people believe that they're
Gonna get away for the summer
But you and I, we live and die
The world's still spinning round
We don't know why
Why, why, why, why
How many special people change
How many lives are living strange
Where were you when we were getting high?
Slowly walking down the hall
Faster than a cannon ball
Where were you while we were getting high?
Some day you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova in the sky
Some day you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova
A champagne supernova in the sky
Cos people believe that they're
Gonna get away for the summer
But you and I, we live and die
The world's still spinning round
We don't know why
Why, why, why, why
How many special people change
How many lives are living strange
Where were you when we were getting high?
We were getting high
We were getting high
We were getting high
We were getting high
... Unless there's a Galactic Test which should be applied.
Might a gamma ray burst from a billion LY out be redshifted into the X-ray spectrum? If so, the X-rays could be nothing more than redshifted cosmic rays from a very distant receding supernova or collapsing black hole.
i think we're both wrong. the moon reflects only 7% of the sunlight that hits it, but it sends out approximately 400,000 times less light (14 magnitudes dimmer). I had to get someone smart to explain it to me.
You forgot the giant fireball burning in the middle of our solar system.
Don't forget the Babel fish.
hmmmm..dint these supernova happen like 1000s of years ago and we are only now detecting it?
Where's Marvin the Martian and his Earth-shattering "KA-BOOM" when you need him?
(sigh)
To put it another way, only 7% of the sunlight that hits the moon gets reflected. But of that 7%, only a tiny portion gets reflected such that it intersects with the earth since it is radiated in all directions, so we only capture a very tiny percent of that 7%.
By analogy, it would be the difference in light between staring into a flashlight at night and seeing the light of that same flashlight reflected off a not-particularly-reflective distant object.
And yet, on a clear enough night, one can see the filled-in outline of the circle on the dark side of a crescent moon. The area beyond the terminator is shining by ... reflected Earthshine. This is VERY dim, but often noticeable.
Which is to say you have an object (Earth) shining by reflected sunlight. We know from photographs taken on the moon thirty years ago that it is glowing as a big blue ball in the Lunar sky. Some little bit of that light finds its way back to Earth.
The distances involved and the inverse square law dictate that the losses should be incredible. They are. Nevertheless, the original source, the sun, is bright enough that you can still see SOMETHING brighter than the background on the dark side of a crescent moon if you look closely on a very clear night.
Bush could have opted to keep Earth safe. Instead, he gave us this lousy tax cut!
LOL!
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