TALK NEWS – Researchers have, for the first time, managed to observe one of the most powerful flashes in the sky caused by the collision of a star and a neutron star, by radio astronomy with a millimeter wavelength.
First reported by The Independentthe discovery was made by researchers from Northwestern University in Illinois and Radboud University in the Netherlands.
They used the Atacama Large Millimetre/Submillimetre Array radio telescope in Chile to capture residual light GRB 211106A — GRB short bursts (gamma-ray bursts) originating from a galaxy about 20 billion light years away.
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Northwestern physics and astronomy professor Wen-fai Fong said in a statement, “This short gamma-ray burst is the first time we have attempted to observe such an event with ALMA. Residual light for short bursts is very hard to come by, so it was spectacular to see this event shine so brightly.”
What’s that GRB?
GRB is a powerful burst of gamma radiation that appears when a large star falls into a black hole or neutron star, especially a dense one in a binary system that fuses with a companion star to form a black hole.
Radboud University astronomer and lead author of the paper Tanmoy Laskar added, “This merger occurs because gravitational wave radiation removes energy from the orbits of the binary stars, causing the stars to spin toward each other. The resulting explosion is accompanied by jets traveling near the speed of light. When one of these beams is directed at Earth, we observe short-wave gamma or -ray radiation GRB short duration.”
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GRB short durations can only last for a fraction of a second, however, the residual light they give off lasts much longer, in less energetic wavelengths of light that can last for minutes, even hours or days.
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