gamma-ray burst

variants: or less commonly gamma ray burst

Definition of gamma-ray burst

: a brief, powerful jet of gamma rays detected deep in space that is generated by the collapse and explosion of a celestial object Eventually, though, the neutron star slows down, probably because of magnetic braking. Then it implodes, touching off a gamma ray burst.— Govert Schilling —abbreviation GRB

Examples of gamma-ray burst in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web There have been a number of additional gravitational wave detections since then, most notably 2017's binary neutron star merger, supported by a simultaneous gamma-ray burst and signals in the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "Physicists identify unique signature to confirm quark-gluon plasma in Universe," 1 May 2020 Almost every day, without warning, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) wash over Earth from somewhere in the vast depths of the cosmos. — Lee Billings, Scientific American, "Record-Breaking Gamma Rays Reveal Secrets of the Universe’s Most Powerful Explosions," 20 Nov. 2019 But although lethal, nearby gamma-ray bursts are also very rare. — Seth Shostak, Quartz, "Humanity will outlive climate change and nuclear war, no matter how bad it gets," 26 Sep. 2019 DePinna liquefied the dry technical NASA language describing weak gamma-ray bursts from the direction of Ursa Major with honks on Oba’s sax and all the players hitting their instruments with flexible hollow tubes. — Los Angeles Times, "Review: Musicians turn the Big Dipper into an ‘interstellar cantata,’ with help from NASA," 11 Sep. 2019 Meanwhile, your other instrument, a dozen detectors working in tandem, senses the whole sky (except for where Earth blocks the view) on the hunt for distant flashes called gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). — Liz Kruesi, National Geographic, "Dear Fermi: What it means to see the universe's extremes," 11 June 2019 In 1973, the U.S. military declassified the existence of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), first detected in the 1960s by military satellites designed to find gamma radiation from nuclear weapons tests. — Yvette Cendes, Discover Magazine, "What Are FRBs? The Discovery of Mysterious Signals From the Cosmos," 7 Feb. 2019 The event, a gamma-ray burst, was triggered by the merger of two neutron stars, forming a single mass of neutrons that was large enough to collapse into a black hole shortly afterwards. — John Timmer, Ars Technica, "Neutron-star merger blasted a jet of material through the debris," 5 Sep. 2018 The new results suggest that neutron-star mergers are important sources of short-duration gamma-ray bursts, study team members said. — Mike Wall, Space.com, "Faster Than Light? Neutron-Star Merger Shot Out a Jet with Seemingly Impossible Speed," 5 Sep. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gamma-ray burst.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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gamma radiation

gamma-ray astronomy

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Cite this Entry

“Gamma-ray burst.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gamma-ray%20burst. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.

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