gamma-ray burst

noun

gam·​ma-ray burst ˈga-mə-ˈrā- 

variants or less commonly gamma ray burst

plural gamma-ray bursts also gamma ray bursts

: a brief, powerful jet of gamma rays detected deep in space that is generated by the collapse and explosion of a celestial object

… researchers … have discovered a gamma-ray burst (GRB) approximately 2.4 billion light-years away in the constellation Sagitta that ranks as the brightest ever observed.

—Space Daily

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

The extreme energy of the FXTs and data regarding blasts of energy called gamma-rays suggest that FXTs and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are, at least sometimes, related. —Robert Lea, Space.com, 21 Aug. 2025

The latest findings are described by an international team of researchers in a study published this month in The Astrophysical Journal Letters Even when not the BOAT, gamma-ray bursts are gigantic. —Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 30 July 2025

The cataclysmic clash released ripples in space-time, known as gravitational waves, as well as light from a gamma-ray burst. —Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 3 May 2025

Supernovae or gamma-ray bursts could explain the spikes, too—but only by occurring rather close to our planet, and that should’ve left behind other forms of evidence that, so far, scientists haven’t found. —Phil Plait, Scientific American, 1 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1973, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for gamma-ray burst

• amerced
• cloudburst
• coerced
• conversed
• disbursed
• dispersed
• headfirst
• immersed
• outburst
• rehearsed
• reversed
• submersed