Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Gamma-Ray Burst Aimed Directly at Earth
Centauri Dreams ^ | 9/10/08

Posted on 09/10/2008 4:42:43 PM PDT by LibWhacker

A massive gamma-ray burst detected last March, believed to be the brightest ever seen, turns out to have been aimed directly at the Earth. A narrow jet that drove material toward us at 99.99995 of the speed of light is revealed in the data, itself wrapped within a somewhat slower and wider jet. The best estimates are that an alignment like this occurs only once every ten years. Says Paul O’Brien (University of Leicester, and a member of the team working on the Swift satellite):

“We normally detect only the wide jet of a GRB as the inner jet is very narrow, equivalent to not much more than 1/100th the angular size of the full Moon. It seems that to see a very bright GRB the narrow jet has to be pointing precisely at the Earth. We would expect that to happen only about once per decade. On March 19th, we got lucky.”

It could be said that any information we get about GRBs is in a sense lucky, given how tricky are the constraints for observing them. And indeed, another GRB just degrees away from this one was already under observation when the big blast went off, making it hard to miss. But wherever the GRB, the Swift satellite is making it possible to gather data from it, finding the original explosion and quickly alerting optical telescopes on Earth — so that they can begin observing within minutes. In this case, the blast was so intense that it temporarily blinded Swift’s X-Ray Telescope and UltraViolet/Optical Telescope, and its visible light was quickly being examined by wide-field cameras in Chile.


Image: This artist’s concept shows the “naked-eye” GRB close up. Observations suggest material shot outward in a two-component jet (white and green beams). Credit: NASA/Swift/Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith and John Jones.

All of this gives us the opportunity to study a GRB from gamma-ray to radio wavelengths, examining what happened to one massive star that exhausted its fuel. GRB 080319B seized the attention of the world when it became clear that the burst was actually bright enough to be visible to the unaided eye, cresting at a magnitude of 5.3 even though the star that spawned it was located over 7.5 billion light years away. The bright afterglow is the result of the gas jets muscling out from the collapsing stellar core, striking gas the star had previously shed and heating it.

The paper is Racusin et al., “GRB 080319B: A Naked-Eye Stellar Blast from the Distant Universe,” slated for publication in Nature tomorrow and available here.

Addendum: Interesting comment by Alex Filippenko (UC Berkeley) in a just arrived news release (not yet up on the Berkeley site): If the supernova that produced this GRB were located 6000 light years from us, the event would have appeared as bright as the Sun. Filippenko calls it “…the most powerful event ever seen in human existence.”


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aimed; burst; catastrophism; gamma; ray; stringtheory
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-51 next last

1 posted on 09/10/2008 4:42:44 PM PDT by LibWhacker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

Borg


2 posted on 09/10/2008 4:44:47 PM PDT by saganite (Obama is a political STD)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

3 posted on 09/10/2008 4:46:09 PM PDT by LukeL (Yasser Arafat: "I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker
It seems that to see a very bright GRB the narrow jet has to be pointing precisely at the Earth

If the GRB is close enough and the jet is pointed directly at us the Earth would be fried.

4 posted on 09/10/2008 4:46:16 PM PDT by C19fan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

“... occurs only once every ten years”

RUN!!!

RUN for the hills!!!!


5 posted on 09/10/2008 4:46:22 PM PDT by PetroniusMaximus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: saganite; shibumi

Aaaaaugh!

The Sun has turned on us and is attacking!!!

We shoulda signed the Kyoto treaty!

Bush’s fault!


6 posted on 09/10/2008 4:46:36 PM PDT by Salamander (Ya can take the boy outta the Mosque but ya can't take the Mosque outta the boy....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: saganite

7 posted on 09/10/2008 4:48:24 PM PDT by MeanWestTexan (Wish it was Palin/McCain)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: PetroniusMaximus
RUN for the hills!!!!

NO! Run for the shade!

8 posted on 09/10/2008 4:48:55 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Wedgie Syndrome: The inability to recognize humor by individuals alwayls looking for an argument)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: PetroniusMaximus

Wouldn’t it make more sense to run for the *caves*?....:-D

[unless you’re into that whole “maxiumum exposure” thing, of course]


9 posted on 09/10/2008 4:49:15 PM PDT by Salamander (Ya can take the boy outta the Mosque but ya can't take the Mosque outta the boy....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

Oh great! Now what’s gonna happen every time I become angry or enraged?!


10 posted on 09/10/2008 4:49:35 PM PDT by uglybiker (1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d 2 g3t l41d)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: C19fan
7.5 billion light years away

Long long ago in a galaxy far far away.
11 posted on 09/10/2008 4:50:25 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Voting Conservative isn't for the faint of heart.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

aimed?


12 posted on 09/10/2008 4:50:35 PM PDT by Steve Van Doorn (*in my best Eric cartman voice* 'I love you guys')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LukeL

LOL. I love the image — I suspect that wasn’t the one you wanted.


13 posted on 09/10/2008 4:50:44 PM PDT by justlurking (The only remedy for a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Hot Tabasco; shibumi

Everybody’s missing the really *big* question here;

What effect did this have on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds?


14 posted on 09/10/2008 4:50:47 PM PDT by Salamander (Ya can take the boy outta the Mosque but ya can't take the Mosque outta the boy....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator


15 posted on 09/10/2008 4:53:35 PM PDT by Peelod
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All
Alex Jones on George Noory's CoasttoCoastAM will reveal that Bush/Cheney arranged for the shot at the Earth.

Reptilian relations of Bush/Cheney aimed their "submission rays" at the Earth. We will all accept the cancellation of the general elections and Bush/Cheney will remain dictators.

Actually Bush-Cheney is one alien reptile that shape-shifts into any human form needed. Elvis even.

16 posted on 09/10/2008 4:53:58 PM PDT by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

If:
something is headed towards you
at the speed of light
(or 99.99995% thereof)
Then:
you won’t see it coming.
-
When someone says:
“this is what this thing looks like
that is 7.5 billion light years away...”
They are wrong.
That is what it looked like 7.5 billion years ago.


17 posted on 09/10/2008 4:54:34 PM PDT by Repeal The 17th
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker
"99.99995(%) of the speed of light..."

But not the speed of light... asymptotic.

18 posted on 09/10/2008 4:54:37 PM PDT by DaGman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MeanWestTexan

“I just thrive on controversy”

Attributed to Gov. Sarah Palin - 2008


19 posted on 09/10/2008 4:56:30 PM PDT by Peelod
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

I’m sure this is Bush’s fault somehow. His failure to support global warming led to this event. Early adoption of hybrids and wind power could have avoided all the negative impact on women, children and minorities.


20 posted on 09/10/2008 4:57:11 PM PDT by driftdiver (No More Obama - The corruption has not changed despite all our hopes.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-51 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson