Introduction
As a space lover you would know how supernovas and how powerful they are (If you don’t know checkout our post of supernova). But just imagine, What if the energy of supernova instead of energy getting out from all directions comes out from only one direction and within a few seconds only. We can imagine how devastating It could be.
But these kinds of burst’s have come out of our imagination and have become real life events. This massive enigmatic event is called the GAMMA RAY BURST. In this post we will tell you each and every minute detail about the Gamma ray burst ,so let’s dive right in.
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| Gamma ray burst, Image source : Medium |
- Introduction
- What is a Gamma ray burst ?
- How was the gamma ray burst found ?
- Why does gamma ray burst occur ?
- How powerful is a gamma ray burst ?
- What is the classification of gamma ray bursts ?
- Universe’s most powerful gamma ray burst
- Are we safe from gamma ray bursts ?
- Conclusion
What is a Gamma ray burst ?
Gamma ray bursts also called GRBs are very enigmatic explosion’s occurring in deep space. The GRBs are the most powerful explosions occurring in space. The GRBs release energy as much as our sun will release in its entire lifetime, and around 500 gamma ray bursts occur daily but as not focused towards us we can only see one in an entire day.
They occur when a giant or supergiant star is at the end of its life. Then an extremely powerful supernova called hypernova occurs, hypernovae are 100 times powerful and brighter than supernovae. And energy instead of getting out from all sides, gets concentrated and is released by the poles as a narrow beam.
This beam of gamma rays, radiation and electromagnetic waves is so powerful that, A GRB released from 200 light years away can vapourise our entire planet within seconds. GRBs have energy of 8.8 x 1054 ergs. They last from 10 milliseconds to a few minutes only, but have the capacity to destroy anything which comes in its path.
How was the gamma ray burst found ?
In the 1960s, during the cold war. US air force launched a satellite named Vela, to keep an eye on USSR whether they are testing any nuclear bomb. The vela had a system which detected the gamma ray’s released by the bomb. And on 2 july 1967 it detected the gamma rays , but instead from earth Vela found it from outer space.
Scientists were shocked when they found such strong gamma rays from outer space. Then more satellites were sent to detect such rays. And then it was found that the gamma rays had travelled many light years and were not originating in the milky way. They found That the GRB was released from a merging of Neutron star.
Why does gamma ray burst occur ?
When a Hypernova occurs in a large or supergiant star, The star starts to transform into a black hole. The energy and matter instead of travelling in all directions, due to the gravitational field of black hole and star colliding, the entire energy comes out of the poles of the star. This event is called a Gamma ray burst.
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| GRB, Image source : ESO supernova |
The gamma ray burst also occurs when two neutron stars merge, A black hole and neutron star merge or when two black holes merge. But the most powerful gamma ray burst occurs in a hypernova, and after every GRB there is a formation of black hole only.
How powerful is a gamma ray burst ?
GRBs are the most powerful explosion occurring in the cosmos. They have energy equivalent to 8.8 x 1054 ergs, which means that a GRB will release as much energy as our sun will release in its entire lifetime, but GRB will release within a few seconds or minutes. The gamma rays released from GRBs are travelling at a speed which is extremely close to the speed of light.
And with such a power any star, planet or any object which comes in the path of the beam gets vaporized. And a Gamma ray released from 6000 light years will also hold enough power to destroy a planet. But the good thing About GRBs is that the beam is travelling in one direction only, Due to which chances of getting hit by one is extremely rare.
What is the classification of gamma ray bursts ?
On the basis of duration, intensity and power GRBs are classified in two types -
Short duration GRBs -
Short duration GRBs are common and seen many times. They occur for time duration less than 2 secs. And are formed by the merger of two neutron stars or the merging of black hole and a neutron star. But in both cases there is a formation of a black hole only. They are less bright than Long duration GRBs.
Long duration GRBs -
Long Duration GRBs are also common and seen many times. They occur for time duration more than 2 sec, and are formed by the hypernova of a star. After long GRBs there is a formation of Black holes and They are the brightest GRBs.
Universe’s most powerful gamma ray burst
Till date, The most powerful GRB ever seen is the GRB 080916C. It is the world's most powerful GRB and lasts for 23 minutes. It had the power of 9000 supernova and travelled 122 x 108 light years (12,20,00,00,000 light years).
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| GRB 080916C, Image source : Wikipedia |
It had originated 12.2 billion years ago, Which is means the GRB occurred when the universe was young. It was observed from earth on 16 September 2008, and was found in the Carina constellation.
Are we safe from gamma ray bursts ?
After reading all this, There must be a doubt occurring in your mind, that why we are not hit by any GRBs till date ?. The reason why we are not hit by any GRB till date is, That even if 500 GRBs are occurring in one single day, still our universe is extremely large and earth is a very small target.
The GRB is a small laser-like beam which can travel in one single direction only. And in such a large universe Earth as a target is smaller than a dot. And till date we have not seen a single GRB occurring in the milky way. And all the GRBs are occurring from outer galaxies only.
If one such GRB occurred in our Galaxy we would be able to see the explosion with naked eyes without any problem day and night. But still there is a possibility that earth could be hit by a GRB.
Conclusion
So this was all for today, and we hope that you would have learned something new about Gamma ray bursts. The important point of the post were -
- The GRBs are the most powerful explosions occurring in space.
- 500 gamma ray bursts occur daily.
- Hypernovae are 100 times powerful and brighter than supernovae.
- Energy instead of getting out from all sides, gets concentrated and is released by the poles as a narrow beam.
- GRBs have energy of 8.8 x 1054 ergs.
- After every GRB there is a formation of black holes only.
- They last from 10 milliseconds to a few minutes only.
- The US air force launched a satellite named Vela.
- GRB will release as much energy as our sun will release in its entire lifetime.
- The gamma rays released from GRBs are travelling at a speed which is extremely close to the speed of light.
- Gamma rays released from 6000 light years will also hold enough power to destroy a planet.
- Short duration GRBs occur for time duration less than 2 secs.
- Long Duration GRBs occur for time duration more than 2 secs.
- The most powerful GRB ever seen is the GRB 080916C.
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