SINCE 1828
gamma-ray burst
noun
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
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 Most of his previous projects involved measuring X-rays or gamma rays from various snaps, crackles and pops in the cosmos, most recently the High Energy Transient Explorer, used to study the cataclysms known as gamma-ray bursts. — Dennis Overbye, New York Times, "Meet TESS, Seeker of Alien Worlds," 26 Mar. 2018 If confirmed, the findings would offer the first solid clue as to what caused Earth's first mass extinction—hypothesized to be the result of everything from toxic metals unleashed in the oceans to radiation from a distant gamma-ray burst. — Shannon Hall, Scientific American, "Volcanoes May Have Triggered the Last Unexplained Mass Extinction," 1 Aug. 2017 The discovery confirms that gamma-ray bursts can result from the collision of neutron stars, as well as that heavy elements are created as a result of violent collisions between stars. — Ashley Strickland, CNN, "First-seen neutron star collision creates light, gravitational waves and gold," 16 Oct. 2017 Space telescopes observed a short gamma-ray burst, a powerful beam of radiation, coming from about the same part of the sky about two seconds later. — Marina Koren, The Atlantic, "The Slack Chat That Changed Astronomy," 17 Oct. 2017These 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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