Nov 7 2001
From The Space Library
Scientists announced the first confirmed observation of the optical afterglow of a gamma-ray burst (GRB). GRBs are the most energetic phenomenon in the universe. NASA’s High Energy Transient Explorer (HETE) had observed a GRB~dubbed GRB 010921~occurring nearly 5 billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Lacerta. The astronomers had coordinated the HETE data with observations that Italy’s BeppoSAX satellite and ESA’s Ulysses spacecraft had captured, enabling them to find the afterglow in optical light and to measure its redshift~the warping of electromagnetic radiation by gravity. The measurement of the redshift helped them determine the GRB’s distance from Earth. The observation was a special opportunity to obtain information on GRBs. Scientists hoped that with additional observations they could begin to understand the causes of this frequent, but enigmatic phenomenon. (NASA, “NASA’s HETE Spots Rare Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow,” news release 01-218, 7 November 2001; P. A. Price et al., “GRB 010921: Discovery of the First High Energy Transient Explorer Afterglow,” Astrophysical Journal Letters 571, no. 2 (1 June 2002): L121–L125; G. Ricker et al., “GRB 010921: Localization and Observation by the High Energy Transient Explorer Satellite,” Astrophysical Journal Letters 571, no. 2 (1 June 2002): L127– L130.)
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