Explanation:
A symphony of planet-wide observations began abruptly
on March 28 when the Earth-orbiting
Swift satellite
detected a burst of high-frequency
gamma-rays from GRB 110328A.
When the same source
flared again after a
45 minute pause
it was clear this event was not a typical
gamma-ray burst.
Twelve
hours after
the initial fanfare astronomers using the 2.5-meter
Nordic Optical
Telescope chimed in with a mid-range observation of
the optical counterpart.
Early the
next day
the explosion was picked up in baritone low-frequencies of radio waves
by the
ELVA radio dishes in the USA.
Later many optical telescopes, including the 8-meter
Gemini North telescope in Hawaii,
began playing along by tracking the optical counterpart.
The unusual source was spotted at a higher register in
X-rays by the
Chandra
X-ray Observatory and was intermittently
followed
in the even more soprano-like gamma-ray range for a week.
Joining the chorus,
Hubble Space Telescope recorded
this
image in optical and
infrared light,
confirming that the flash was located along the path of a galaxy at
redshift 0.351.
If associated with the galaxy, this explosion occurred when the universe was
about
two thirds of its present age.
There is much speculation that the unusual gamma-ray burst
was a star being ripped apart by a supermassive
black hole
in the center of a galaxy and the
puzzling features of the
distant detonation are still being explored.
