Gamma ray

Pulsar 🌌 🔭 A pulsar is a highly magnetised, rotating neutron star or white dwarf, that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. This…

But don't worry, no laws of physics are being violated.

From the farthest-known galaxy in the observable universe comes the brightest and most energetic of events: a possible gamma-ray burst.

Black Holes: We all know these fantastic objects are created when a sufficiently large amount of mass gets so dense it collapses to an infinitely small point – creating a region of spacetime so warped that even light can’t escape. Of course, the most practical way for a black hole to be created is when […]

Astronomers have spotted a strange blast of gamma radiation from space that defies categorisation, and it may mean a gap in our understanding of how black holes form

Gamma-ray burst produces the most energetic light ever recorded. Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the Universe, but even considering this, the emission from GRB 190114C is exceptional..

Explore Quanta’s gamma-ray bursts coverage.

When it comes to the biggest and brightest explosions seen in the Universe, University of Warwick astronomers have found that it takes two stars to make a gamma-ray burst. Artist’s impression of gamma-ray burst with orbiting binary star [Credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick] New research solves the mystery of how stars spin fast enough to create conditions to launch a jet of highly energetic material into space, and has found that tidal effects like those between the Moon and the Earth…