Gamma-Ray Bursts: How Cold War Satellites Accidentally Discovered the Universe's Most Powerful Explosions

Jeanette Kazmierczak

8h ago· 7 min readenInsight

Summary

This article explores gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most powerful explosions in the known universe, which can emit a quintillion times the luminosity of our Sun. It traces their accidental discovery through U.S. Air Force Vela satellites originally launched in 1963 to detect gamma rays from banned nuclear weapons tests. The piece explains that GRBs are now understood to announce the births of new black holes, and covers the scientific journey from Cold War surveillance to groundbreaking astrophysical discovery.

Source

Twitter / XGamma-Ray Bursts: How Cold War Satellites Accidentally Discovered the Universe's Most Powerful Explosionsgo.nasa.gov

Key quotes

· 5 pulled

The most powerful events in the known universe – gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) – are short-lived outbursts of the highest-energy light.

They can erupt with a quintillion (a 10 followed by 18 zeros) times the luminosity of our Sun.

Now thought to announce the births of new black holes, they were discovered by accident.

The backstory takes us to 1963, when the U.S. Air Force launched the Vela satellites to detect gamma rays from banned nuclear weapons tests.

The United States had just signed a treaty with the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union to prohibit tests within Earth's atmosphere.

Snippet from the RSS feed

The most powerful events in the known universe – gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) – are short-lived outbursts of the highest-energy light. They can erupt with a

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