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Short Gamma-ray Bursts Traced to Colliding Stars

Posted by samzenpus on from the stars-smash dept.

Astervitude writes "Collisions of the cosmic kind could be the source of one of nature's most lethal explosions. Astronomers have traced the origin of short-duration gamma-ray bursts, or GRBs, to the merger of neutron stars or other dense bodies. Space.com has a report on the scientific detective work that led to the solution of what has been described as a 35-year-old mystery. "Our observations do not prove the coalescence model, but we surely have found a lady with a smoking gun next to a dead body," said Shri Kulkarni, one of over two dozen astronomers who discovered and investigated two short-duration bursts that took place last May and July. Unlike short-duration GRBs, long-duration GRBs are believed to be produced when extremely massive stars collapse and explode as supernovas."

6 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Correction... by fido_dogstoyevsky · · Score: 2, Funny

    Anyway, it is curious that no gamma-ray bursts occured in our galaxy (yet). It is supposed that such an even would generate enough gamma rays to wipe out the ozone layer, and cause life extinction on earth.

    Wait... why dinosaurs dissapeared again? :-)

    I thought it was because they took up smoking...

    --
    It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
  2. Get rich quick by Mathinker · · Score: 3, Funny

    The merger of two dense bodies causes gamma-ray bursts?

    Wow! Now I can get rich selling lead underwear the next time there's a Microsoft/AOL merger hoax

  3. Science Meets Film Noir by MooseByte · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Our observations do not prove the coalescence model, but we surely have found a lady with a smoking gun next to a dead body," said Shri Kulkarni

    Looks like the Sin City DVD has been getting a lot of play time down in the lab....

  4. Re:article is slightly misleading... by WalterGR · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...it's rather too complex to detail in a slashdot comment.

    Dude - never talk about the space in which you would write an explanation. That's like the ultimate jinx. The last time a guy did that, it took the rest of the world 357 years to figure it out.

    ;)

    --
    The Online Slang Dictionary
  5. A brief history of time by marvy666 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just been reading a brief history of time, 10th anniversary edition today. And i could swear this is spoken about in the book.

    Then again I could be wrong, a lot of it is over my head.

  6. But how does this fit... by snookums · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...with the Electric Universe theory?

    --
    Be careful. People in masks cannot be trusted.