In a major discovery, NASA has seen the shortest Gamma-ray Bursts in astronomical history. This phenomenon was observed by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope when the energetic radiation caused by a supernova was rapidly approaching Earth. This is the first time that astronomers have seen such a short explosion. It is considered a very important discovery.
Key Details About Shortest Gamma-ray Burst
This explosion was observed by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope on 26 August 2020, so it is known as GRB 200826A. It is the shortest Gamma-ray Burst emitted by a dying star, lasting less than a second. A shorter explosion than this had not yet been observed by our scientists.
Universities Involved In The Research
Researchers from the Inter-university Center for Astronomy and National Centre for Radio Astrophysics - Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Pune (NCRA) and IIT Mumbai, in addition to the University of Naveda, Las Vegas, and Nanjing University in China participated in the research.
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Estimation About Cause Of Explosion
Bin-bin Zhang of Nanjing University and Naveda University say that this phenomenon has shown that even dying stars can produce short explosions. According to NASA, short explosions are produced when a pair of dense objects like neutron stars have been spiraling inward for billions of years and collide.
Information About The Origin
Zhang says that this Gamma-ray Burst is special because it is definitely a short duration Gamma-ray Burst. But its other features are telling its origin to be from a colliding star. Now we know that even dying stars can produce short explosions.
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Most Energetic Short Explosion
Tomas Ahumada, a PhD student at the University of Maryland College Park and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Road, Maryland, explains that The shorter explosion emitted the same amount of energy as the entire Milky Way galaxy emitt, in the same amount of time. . This is the most energetic short duration Gamma-ray Burst ever observed.
Time Duration Of Explosion
This explosion has been named GRB 200826A. This incident was recorded as a sharp explosion occurring in just 65 seconds. After traveling for a long time in the expanding universe, these signals were caught by the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor of the Fermi Telescope. It was also seen by NASA's Wind Mission, Mars Odyssey, and the European Space Agency's Integral Satellite.
How Gamma-ray Bursts Occur?
According to NASA, when a star bigger than the Sun runs out of fuel. Its core ends and takes the form of a black hole. As the matter spins and moves towards the black hole, some of the matter escapes to form two powerful jets that fly in two opposite directions almost as fast as the speed of light. Each jet emanated from the star as a pulse of Gamma ray.
This Gamma-ray burst occurred when the direction of a jet was towards the Earth. After this explosion, the star exploded as a supernova. A small Gamma-ray Burst lasts less than two seconds, while a large Gamma-ray Burst lasts more than two seconds.
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