Gamma-ray burst
The astronomers were able to determine that GRB 200826A originated from a supernova explosion, designated ZTF20abwysqy (AT2020scz), thanks to the imaging capabilities of the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on the 8-m Frederick C. “We think this event was effectively a fizzle, one that was close to not happening at all.” “Our discovery suggests that, since we observe many more of these supernovae than long gamma-ray bursts, most collapsing stars fail to produce a GRB jet that breaks through the outer envelope of the collapsing star,” Ahumada said. The discovery also suggests that some of supernova-caused GRBs are masquerading as short GRBs thought to be created by neutron-star mergers, and are therefore not getting counted as the supernova kind. “It lasted for only 0.6 second, and it sits on the brink between a successful and a failed gamma-ray burst.”Īhumada and his colleagues believe that GRB 200826A and some other supernova-related GRBs are appearing short because the jets of gamma rays that emerge from the collapsing star’s poles aren’t strong enough to completely escape the star and that other collapsing stars have such weak jets that they don’t produce GRBs at all.
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candidate at the University of Maryland and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “This discovery represents the shortest gamma-ray emission caused by a supernova during the collapse of a massive star,” said Tomás Ahumada, a Ph.D. However, the recent discovery of GRB 200826A - the shortest-ever event produced during a supernova - shows that GRBs don’t fit neatly into the boxes astronomers have created for them. Long GRBs are associated with supernova explosions caused by the implosions of massive stars. Short GRBs blaze into life in less than two seconds and are thought to be caused by the merging of binary neutron stars. They divide GRBs into two broad categories based on their duration: short and long GRBs. In just a few seconds, a typical GRB will release more energy than the Sun will over its 10-billion-year lifetime.Īstronomers are still figuring out exactly what causes these events. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the brightest and most energetic events in the Universe. Image credit: Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. So if a gamma ray burst went off within about 5000-8000 light years, we'd be in a world of trouble.This illustration depicts a collapsing star that is producing two short gamma-ray jets. In fact, astronomers predict that the lethal destruction from a gamma ray burst would stretch for thousands of light years. There's no question gamma ray bursts are terrifying. Considering that, are we in danger from a gamma ray burst and why didn't we get at least one Tyrannosaurus Hulk out of the deal?
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Creatures that lived near the surface of the ocean were hit much harder than deep sea animals, and this evidence matches what would happen from a powerful gamma ray burst event. The most devastating was probably one that occurred 450 million years ago causing the Ordovician–Silurian extinction event. Our ozone layer would be depleted, or completely stripped away, and any life on that world would experience an extinction level event on the scale of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.Īstronomers believe that gamma ray bursts might explain some of the mass extinctions that happened on Earth. One side of the world is blasted with lethal levels of radiation. You're thinking "Heck, if the gamma exposure worked for Banner, surely a super-supernova will make me even more powerful than the Hulk." That's not exactly how this plays out.įor any world caught within the death beam from a gamma ray burst, the effects are devastating. In a split second, a gamma ray burst can release more energy than the Sun will emit in its entire lifetime. They're so bright we can see them for billions of light-years away. In a split second, a star with many times the mass of our Sun collapses into a black hole, and its outer layers are ejected away from the core. Coincidentally, Gamma Ray bursts, astronomers say, are the most powerful explosions in the Universe.