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Image: Short Gamma-Ray Burst

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Description: This illustration depicts a collapsing star that is producing two short gamma-ray jets. Just before a massive, collapsing star explodes as a supernova, we often observe a gamma-ray burst (a brief explosion of gamma-ray radiation) if the jets are pointed toward Earth. Most known supernova-produced gamma-ray bursts are“long” (lasting more than two seconds), but one called GRB 200826 was “short” (lasting just 0.6 second). Astronomers think this, and possibly other short supernova-produced gamma-ray bursts, appeared short because the jets of gamma rays aren’t strong enough to completely escape the star. This would produce jets that are shorter in both length and duration.
Title: Short Gamma-Ray Burst
Credit: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2121a/
Author: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva Image processing: M. Zamani (NSF's NOIRLab)
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
License: CC BY 4.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Attribution Required?: Yes

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