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APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 08)
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 4:08 am
by APOD Robot
Earths Major Telescopes Investigate GRB 130427A
Explanation: A tremendous explosion has occurred in the nearby universe and major telescopes across Earth and space are investigating. Dubbed GRB 130427A, the
gamma-ray burst was
first seen by the Earth-orbiting
Swift satellite in high energy
X-rays and quickly reported down to Earth. Within three minutes, the half-meter ISON telescope in
New Mexico found the blast in visible light, noted its extreme brightness, and relayed more exact coordinates. Within the next few minutes, the bright optical counterpart was being tracked by several quickly re-pointable telescopes including the 2.0-meter
P60 telescope in
California, the 1.3-meter
PAIRTEL telescope in
New Mexico, and the 2.0-meter
Faulkes Telescope North in
Hawaii. Within two hours, the 8.2-meter
Gemini North telescope in Hawaii noted a
redshift of 0.34, placing the explosion about 470 million
light years away -- considered nearby in cosmological terms. Previously recorded images from the
RAPTOR full-sky monitors were scanned and a very bright optical counterpart --
magnitude 7.4 -- was
found 50 seconds
before the Swift trigger. The brightest burst in recent years, a
signal from GRB 130427A has also been found in low energy
radio waves by the
Very Large Array (VLA) and at the highest energies ever recorded by the
Fermi satellite.
Neutrino,
gravitational wave, and telescopes designed to detect only extremely high energy photons are
checking their data for a GRB 130427A signal. Pictured in the
above animation, the entire gamma-ray sky is shown becoming momentarily dominated by the intense glow of GRB 130427A. Continued tracking the
optical counterpart will surely be ongoing as there is a
possibility that the glow of a classic supernova will soon emerge.
[/b]
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 4:36 am
by bystander
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 5:38 am
by Ann
Only 470 million light-years away? That's just a bit farther away than
the Coma Cluster, about 1½ times farther away. This gamma-ray burst feels uncomfortably nearby!
I tried to access this discussion forum by going from the APOD page itself to here, via the
Discuss link. However, when I clicked on it, I got the following message:
You are probably trying to discuss an APOD which does not yet exist. You want to discuss the APOD from May 9th, 2013.
If you are sure this is correct, try again later. Otherwise, head over to The Asterisk to discuss an APOD which does exist.
Ann
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 6:25 am
by alter-ego
Ann wrote:Only 470 million light-years away? That's just a bit farther away than
the Coma Cluster, about 1½ times farther away. This gamma-ray burst feels uncomfortably nearby!
That's because is to close. The articles I've read e.g.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRB_130427A, all state the GRB distance at 3.6 billion lyr. As far as recorded GRBs go, it is still a close one. Just not that close. An 0.34 red shift more correctly corresponds to the further distance anyway.
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 7:00 am
by Bay Area John
I noted the widely different distance reported here than the rest of the reports too.
I was also kind of surprised that the summary here didn't mention the DATE it was seen, April 27 of this year. Kind of a big detail to leave out.
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 7:05 am
by Bay Area John
...although thems that knows about such things would say the date was explicitly given... in the name of the object. GRB 130427A means the Gamma Ray Burst of April 27, 2013.
And now I'm among thems that knows. You too.
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 7:43 am
by Tucker512
Yes, well, some other details left out or wrong entirely:
First, I'd like to buy a vowel... it's PAIRITEL, not PAIRTEL.
Also, it turns out Arizona is not New Mexico. Very similar, yes, but not actually the same state... PAIRITEL is on Mt. Hopkins, south of Tucson, AZ.
I'll give you "PAIRTEL" as a typo, but when you miss something's location by a whole state, I worry about the accuracy of subtler details that most people wouldn't know were right or wrong. Oh, like z=0.34 being 3.6 billion light-years, not 470 million.
On the plus side, it
is actually an ASTRONOMY picture of the day, and not clouds or something... Which are fantastic--in pictures, not in real life, they ruin my astrophotos--but are decidedly
not astronomical. Just saying. You know, as long as I'm ranting...
Regards,
Scott Tucker
Tucson, New Mexico
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 9:56 am
by saturno2
Distance of GRB 130427A 3,6 billion light-year away
( link by bystander )
Why APOD say 470 million light year away?
This is a big explosion, indeed.
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 10:27 am
by Boomer12k
The information seems to be incorrect. don't know what to accept.
does not explain the picture. I assume it to be a radio picture or some such of the grb...at least Ann, can enjoy the blue dots....
I think it really needs to be re-written....
But after following the link on gravity waves, I did have an interesting realization that I eventually reconcilled with my other realizations about gravity. let us just say this article is not the only inaccuracy around....
:---(===) *
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 10:38 am
by TomTom
Is such an event harmful for earth? Does such an event has any impact on anything? Could someone have seen this in visible light?
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 11:00 am
by Indigo_Sunrise
I receive this error when I click the "Discuss" link at the bottom of the APOD:
You are probably trying to discuss an APOD which does not yet exist. You want to discuss the APOD from May 9th, 2013.
If you are sure this is correct, try again later. Otherwise, head over to The Asterisk to discuss an APOD which does exist.
Can this be fixed?
Or wait - is it just me?
ETA: also, what is the other bright spot at the lower right? Another GRB?
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 11:28 am
by RJN
Thanks, everyone. Several text updates have been made. I apologize for the oversights. - RJN
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 11:40 am
by neufer
- What the heck is that all about
![Exclamation :!:](./images/smilies/icon_exclaim.gif)
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/21mar_nakedeye/ wrote:
<<March 21, 2008: A powerful gamma ray burst detected March 19th by NASA's Swift satellite has shattered the record for the most distant object that could be seen with the naked eye. The burst was named GRB 080319B and registered between 5 and 6 on the visual magnitude scale used by astronomers.
Later that evening, the Very Large Telescope in Chile and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope in Texas measured the burst's redshift at 0.94. A redshift is a measure of the distance to an object. A redshift of 0.94 translates into a distance of 7.5 billion light years, meaning the explosion took place 7.5 billion years ago, a time when the universe was less than half its current age and Earth had yet to form. This is more than halfway across the visible universe.
"No other known object or type of explosion could be seen by the naked eye at such an immense distance," says Swift science team member Stephen Holland of Goddard. "If someone just happened to be looking at the right place at the right time, they saw the most distant object ever seen by human eyes without optical aid."
Most gamma ray bursts occur when massive stars run out of nuclear fuel. Their cores collapse to form black holes or neutron stars, releasing an intense burst of high-energy gamma rays and ejecting particle jets that rip through space at nearly the speed of light. When the jets plow into surrounding interstellar clouds, they heat the gas to incandescent visibility. It is this gaseous "afterglow" which was visible to the human eye on March 19th.>>
APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 08)
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 12:21 pm
by John Champagne
If a miniature black hole were produced by a curious species involved in high-energy physics experiments, and that black hole ended up swallowing the planet that was home to such species, what kind of signature would such an implosion produce?
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 12:33 pm
by BrianSherwood
I found the clause "in the nearby universe" to be a bit problematic; is there another universe nearby? Couldn't this be rephrased to be a bit less ambiguous?
The gamma rays (aka 'cosmic rays'?) should be deflected by the Van Allen belt, shouldn't they? Or is there any protection from them (aside from the distance)?
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 12:44 pm
by Daburb1953
I think this is great information for study. I have a question I hope someone can explain. If we're seeing the gamma ray burst now, why does APOD say in their last sentence "Continued tracking the optical counterpart will surely be ongoing as there is a possibility that the glow of a classic supernova will soon emerge."??
I thought nothing traveled faster than the speed of light - so if we're seeing the gamma ray bursts now, why would 'the optical counterpart' soon emerge? Wouldn't they be at the time time?
It's been a long time since I've been really 'into' astrophysics, so please excuse my ignorance.
Thanks!
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 12:47 pm
by Stargazer_MD
Did it happen today? Putting the date of occurrence will help an idiot such as me.
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 12:49 pm
by emc
i'm feeling mean and green
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 1:00 pm
by John O
In other words, this Gamma ray burst that is 470 million light years away, happened 470 million years ago, if we go by the speed of light...aren't we a bit late!
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 1:05 pm
by Willy
Thanks for the corrections.
I also added the date in
my Spanish translation, without a date it actually might seem to be a kind of breaking news story, and of course, in cosmological terms it is.
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 1:10 pm
by Daburb1953
Stargazer_MD wrote:Did it happen today? Putting the date of occurrence will help an idiot such as me.
It was observed on the 27th of April. I discovered (today) that GRB 130427 means 'Gamma Ray Burst 2013-04-27' or April 27th 2013
If the distance is now reported at 3.6 billion light years. So it occurred 3.6 billion years ago - or thereabouts - give or take a month or two
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 1:15 pm
by rstevenson
John Champagne wrote:If a miniature black hole were produced by a curious species involved in high-energy physics experiments, and that black hole ended up swallowing the planet that was home to such species, what kind of signature would such an implosion produce?
Presumably you're thinking of using high-energy collisions, such as in the large Hadron Collider, to make a black hole? The Wikipedia page about Black Holes says...
Even if micro black holes should be formed in these collisions, it is expected that they would evaporate in about 10−25 seconds, posing no threat to the Earth.
Rob
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 1:40 pm
by stephen63
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 1:43 pm
by John Champagne
Rob, since we are not particularly familiar with natural phenomena at these energies, I would suggest that what is expected and what might actually happen may not match closely.
Re: APOD: Earths Major Telescopes Investigate... (2013 May 0
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 1:46 pm
by Strangerbarry
I wonder if any GRBs have been or could be seen with the naked eye ? You'd have to be looking at the right place at the right time - pure chance - and most people likely wouldn't know what they're seeing. Still, the thought that one might see light that is billions of years old, without a telescope, seems fascinating