Gamma-Ray Bursts

Gamma-Ray Bursts were accidentally discovered in the 60s by American satellites designed to detect explosions of nuclear weapons by looking for gamma-rays, high energy radiation. It was then discovered that intense flashes of gamma-rays where in fact coming from the outer space, occurring at random intervals and places.

Fifty years onwards, gamma-ray bursts still remain a mystery. Observations of GRBs reveal that these brief explosions are a million trillion times as bright as the Sun for a brief period of time and that they take place in the most distant galaxies. Observations also reveal that gamma-rays are only the initial stages of these spectacular explosions, with the initial emission being followed by lower energy electromagnetic radiation like X-rays, visible light and radio waves. In an attempt to explain these phenomena astronomers have proposed that GRBs are huge explosions associated with the death of exceptionally massive stars. Other theories suggest that GRBs might be the result of the collision between two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole. However none of these theories are conclusive and the search for an explanation is still ongoing.

One of the challenges in the study of GRBs is to observe these phenomena which last from a few thousandths of a second up to a few minutes. Considering their short life and the fact that they occur at random places in the sky, observation of GRBs is more a matter of chance. In order to increase the chances of observation, astronomers have set up a network which links telescopes from all around the world, so that if a telescope observes a GRB it can instantly notify the rest of the telescopes, ground-based or space-borne, that are part of the network. In that way, GRBs can be observed simultaneously by different telescopes which can detect the different types of radiation that these objects emit, providing data that can lead to a better understanding of