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Title

Naked-Eye Gamma-ray Burst Model for GRB 080319B

Description

Gamma-ray bursts that are longer than two seconds are caused by the detonation of a rapidly rotating massive star at the end of its life on the main sequence. Jets of particles and gamma radiation are emitted in opposite directions from the stellar core as the star collapses. In this model, a narrow beam of gamma rays is emitted, followed by a wider beam of gamma rays. The narrow beam for GRB 080319B was aimed almost precisely at the Earth, which made it the brightest gamma-ray burst observed to date by NASA's Swift satellite.

Subject

  • GRB 080319B
  • Gamma Ray Burst

Credits

NASA/Swift/Cruz deWilde

Type

Artwork

Associated Lesson

Gamma Ray Tools

This material is based upon work supported by NASA under Grant Nos. NNX09AD33G and NNX10AE80G issued through the SMD ROSES 2009 Program.

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