gamma rays

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NASA Needs Your Help Unraveling Cosmic Mysteries

Agency calls for citizen scientists to catalog pulses of gamma rays as discoveries continue

(Newser) - NASA needs your help to identify massive explosions in space. The space agency is calling on citizen scientists to become "burst chasers" by joining a project to interpret gamma-ray bursts across the universe and "decode what the universe is saying," according to a release . Huge amounts of...

Behold, a 'New Era in Astronomy' Is Born

Researchers witness collision of 2 neutron stars, and the result is monumental

(Newser) - It was a faint signal, but it told of one of the most violent acts in the universe, and it would soon reveal secrets of the cosmos, including how gold was created, per the AP . What astronomers witnessed in August and revealed Monday was the long-ago collision of two neutron...

Brazil's New Weapon Vs. Zika: Gamma Rays

Officials hope by sterilizing male mosquitoes they can curb spread of virus

(Newser) - With the 2016 Olympics in Rio right around the corner, Brazil is bringing in the big guns to fight Zika—specifically, a gamma ray device to sterilize the mosquitoes that carry the virus, Reuters reports. A nonprofit group will breed up to 12 million of the male insects a week...

Brightest Space-Blast Ever Shocks Scientists

Gamma-ray burst defies current theories

(Newser) - Notice a little white spot in the sky earlier this year? That may have been the brightest gamma-ray explosion on record mixed with a powerful supernova, a combination scientists had never seen before, LiveScience reports. Because the blast was fairly close by—a mere 3.5 billion light-years—scientists were...

Milky Way Emits Huge Gamma Ray Bubbles

Massive bubbles of energy stump astrophysicists

(Newser) - Scientists say they have discovered two vast and mysterious bubbles of gamma-ray energy coming from the center of our galaxy. The bubbles, which extend an incredible 25,000 light years above and below the galaxy's plane, were discovered by scientists analyzing data from NASA's Fermi telescope, the Los Angeles Times...

Farthest-Ever Star Blast From Ancient Cosmos

Gamma ray burst took 13 billion years to reach Earth

(Newser) - Astronomers have detected a cosmic object more distant than any ever seen: a gamma ray burst about 13 billion light-years from Earth. The massive, luminous burst occurred about 600 million years after the Big Bang—that is, when the universe was 4% of its current age—and only lasted for...

Massive Gamma Blast Spotted
 Massive Gamma Blast Spotted 
Feb 20, 2009 1:15 PM CST

Massive Gamma Blast Spotted

Explosion had force of 9,000 supernovas

(Newser) - The strongest-ever gamma ray blast—a burst more powerful than 9,000 exploding stars—has been detected 12.2 billion light years away in deep space, reports the Telegraph. The blast took place in September in the constellation Carina, and produced energy up to 5 billion times that of light....

Exploding Star Brightest Object Ever Seen

Brightest object ever observed by humans

(Newser) - Light from a star that exploded billions of years before the Earth was formed have been spotted by terrestrial astronomers, Space.com reports. The gamma-ray burst from halfway across the universe was the most distant object ever seen by the naked eye, and the brightest object ever observed by humans....

Star Could Fire Death Ray at Earth
Star Could Fire Death Ray
at Earth
Mar 10, 2008 3:49 PM CDT

Star Could Fire Death Ray at Earth

Perfect spiral 8K light years away produces gamma rays

(Newser) - Don't freak out, but an unstable star a mere 8,000 light years away could go supernova at any time, sending a massive gamma ray burst hurtling toward Earth, possibly destroying the ozone layer and blasting half of the planet with deadly radiation. WR 104 is what's known as a...

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