Scientists Have Created a Mini Gamma-Ray Burst in The Lab For The First Time (ScienceAlert)
GIANLUCA SARRI, THE CONVERSATION
16 JAN 2018
Gamma ray bursts, intense explosions of light, are the brightest events ever observed in the Universe lasting no longer than seconds or minutes.
Some are so luminous that they can be observed with the naked eye, such as the burst "GRB 080319B" discovered by NASA's Swift GRB Explorer mission on March 19, 2008.
But despite the fact that they are so intense, scientists don't really know what causes gamma ray bursts. There are even people who believe some of them might be messages sent from advanced alien civilisations.
Now we have for the first time managed to recreate a mini version of a gamma ray burst in the laboratory opening up a whole new way to investigate their properties. Our research is published in Physical Review Letters.
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more:
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-created-a-mini-gamma-ray-burst-in-the-lab-for-the-first-time?perpetual=yes&limitstart=1