Astronomy Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [gamma-ray-bursts]

Gamma ray bursts are flashes of gamma rays, produced by extremely powerful explosions in distant galaxies. They are among the most powerful events in the universe

Gamma ray burst are formed in various ways, including hypernovae and the mergers of binary neutron stars.

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If GRB 080319B happened next to nearest star: Proxima Centauri, what effect would that have had on us?

From a Reddit post GRB 080319B was a gamma-ray burst (GRB) detected by the Swift satellite at 06:12 UTC on March 19, 2008. The burst set a new record for the farthest object that was observable with the naked eye: it had a peak visual apparent…
Tom Sol
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What is the shape and size of a gamma ray burst?

As I understand it, a gamma ray burst is created when a massive star collapses into a black hole. The poles of the black hole eject a massive burst of energy which we know as gamma ray bursts. So my question... Are gamma ray burst more or less…
Scottie
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If getting shined on by a gamma ray is an extinction level event how do we detect them?

Cosmic gamma ray bursts are seriously powerful and do a lot of damage. So how did we measure gamma ray frequencies without getting fried? I have two possible explanations: We never detected them directly but calculated their frequency from…
stevie
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Why the lows of the GRB 2014-04-27 in Andromeda?

The Swift gamma ray burst space telescope has measured a GRB according to the link below. But why the oscillations in the measured gamma rate? Why wasn't just an increase detected, but also as big decreases? The average rate doesn't look to have…
LocalFluff
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Should we expect clues from a gamma ray burst causing massive extinctions on Earth?

I remember reading an article on the subject highlighting the periodicity of this event throughout history supposing it could be caused by the rotation of the sun around the galaxy. My question is: Do we have any clues that can confirm this…
user17066
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How do we know an event is a gamma-ray burst?

How do we know an event is a gamma-ray burst (grb)? There are two kinds of grbs, long burst and shot burst, which are caused by supernova explosions explosion and the merger of two neutron stars, respectively. However, at least one grb, J1644, is a…
questionhang
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What is the difference between $E_\gamma$ and $E_{\gamma,iso}$ in gamma ray bursts?

In the literature on gamma ray bursts I see several references to $E_\gamma$ and $E_{\gamma,iso}$ for example as in Piran (2005) $E_{k,iso,52}$ is “isotropic equivalent” kinetic energy, discussed below, in units of 1052 ergs, while $E_{k,θ,52}$ is…
GLD
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