FOR the first time, astronomers have seen the flash of light from a gamma-ray
burst, an event thought to be triggered by the collision of two neutron stars or
the collapse of a massive star into a black hole.
An automated camera photographed the flash on 23 January, within 22 seconds
of a tip-off from the orbiting Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. The observatory
pinpointed the burst as roughly 10 billion light years away.
The flash released 10 times more energy than would be expected if two
colliding neutron stars had caused it. 鈥淭he energy is a real surprise,鈥� says
Bohdan Paczynski, a gamma-ray burst expert at Princeton University in New
Jersey. As a result, astronomers may be forced to rethink the cause of the
bursts.
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