Gamma-ray Bursts
Gamma-ray bursts
(GRBs) pose one of the greatest mysteries of modern
astronomy.
About once a day, the sky lights up with a spectacular flash, or burst, of
gamma-rays.
More often than not, this burst out shines
all of the other sources of cosmic gamma-rays added together. The source of
the burst then disappears altogether. No one can predict when the next burst
will occur or from what direction in the sky it will come. At present, we don't exactly
know what causes these flashes, and
we've only recently determined how far away they are!
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How they look as functions of time and energy