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

That means its origin must be extragalactic, perhaps created in the violence of a star exploding and producing a gamma-ray burst, or a supermassive black hole ripping a star or gas cloud to shreds with its titanic gravitational tidal forces. —Keith Cooper, Space.com, 16 May 2025

However, while there are numerous active galaxies with supermassive black holes in that region, none of them was displaying activity at the time that could explain the neutrino, nor was a gamma-ray burst detected from that direction at that time. —Keith Cooper, Space.com, 16 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

Before this research, scientists didn't recognize that some nearby gamma-ray bursts are also part of this massive structure. —Robert Lea, Space.com, 20 Apr. 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