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Scientific American

December 1, 2002

1 min read

The Brightest Explosions in the Universe

Every time a gamma-ray burst goes off, a black hole is born

By Neil Gehrels, Luigi Piro and Peter J. T. Leonard

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Gamma-Ray Bursts of Doom. Peter J. T. Leonard and Jerry T. Bonnell in Sky & Telescope, Vol. 95, No. 2, pages 28- 34; February 1998.

Observation of X-ray Lines from a Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB991216): Evidence of Moving Ejecta from the Progenitor. Luigi Piro et al. in Science, Vol. 290, pages 955- 958; November 3, 2000. Preprint available at arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0011337

Gamma-Ray Bursts: Accumulating Afterglow Implications, Progenitor Clues, and Prospects. Peter M¿sz¿ros in Science, Vol. 291, pages 79- 84; January 5, 2001. arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0102255

Blinded by the Light. Stan Woosley in Nature, Vol. 414, pages 853- 854; December 20, 2001.

The Biggest Bangs: The Mystery of Gamma-Ray Bursts, the Most Violent Explosions in the Universe. Jonathan I. Katz. Oxford University Press, 2002.

Flash! The Hunt for the Biggest Explosions in the Universe. Govert Schilling. Cambridge University Press, 2002.

More by Neil Gehrels, Luigi Piro and Peter J. T. Leonard
Scientific American Magazine Vol 287 Issue 6This article was originally published with the title “The Brightest Explosions in the Universe” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 287 No. 6 ()
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican122002-36Wbd5vpsbVbzEO7dArX2q
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