Thursday August 31, 03:05 AM
Supernova caught in its exploding act
LONDON (Reuters) - Teams of international scientists have used observations from NASA's Swift satellite and other telescopes to witness the evolution of a cosmic blast into a stellar explosion or supernova.
The blast is thought to be a milder type of gamma-ray burst (GRB) -- the most powerful type of explosion known to astronomers -- called an X-ray flash.
It is known as GRB060218 after the February 18 date it began in the constellation of Aries about 440 million light years away. A light year is about 6 trillion miles, the distance light travels in a year.
It is the second-closest gamma-ray burst ever detected and the first view of a supernova in the act of exploding, according to the astronomers.
Pian and her group confirmed that the explosion was tied to a supernova called SN2006aj a few days after the outburst, which lasted 100 times longer than a typical gamma-ray burst but was much dimmer.
X-ray flashes appear to signal an explosion that leaves behind a neutron star while gamma-ray bursts are thought to mark the birth of a black hole, a region of space from which nothing can escape.
For more information -
http://au.news.yahoo.com/060830/15/10cgd.html?f=mv
Supernova caught in its exploding act
LONDON (Reuters) - Teams of international scientists have used observations from NASA's Swift satellite and other telescopes to witness the evolution of a cosmic blast into a stellar explosion or supernova.
The blast is thought to be a milder type of gamma-ray burst (GRB) -- the most powerful type of explosion known to astronomers -- called an X-ray flash.
It is known as GRB060218 after the February 18 date it began in the constellation of Aries about 440 million light years away. A light year is about 6 trillion miles, the distance light travels in a year.
It is the second-closest gamma-ray burst ever detected and the first view of a supernova in the act of exploding, according to the astronomers.
Pian and her group confirmed that the explosion was tied to a supernova called SN2006aj a few days after the outburst, which lasted 100 times longer than a typical gamma-ray burst but was much dimmer.
X-ray flashes appear to signal an explosion that leaves behind a neutron star while gamma-ray bursts are thought to mark the birth of a black hole, a region of space from which nothing can escape.
For more information -
http://au.news.yahoo.com/060830/15/10cgd.html?f=mv
