Astronomers recently observed a monster gamma ray burst in the fairly near universe but it failed to create any Hulk.
Gamma ray bursts are powerful bursts of gamma radiation, which are linked with exploding massive stars. Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute have observed an unusually violent gamma ray burst, which is supposed to be in a nearby universe. Astronomers believe that this is one of the biggest and brightest gamma ray burst witnessed. Scientists believe that if the gamma ray burst was slightly closer to the Earth it would have definitely affected the planet.
Creators of fictional character Incredible Hulk depicted that a normal human being was caught in gamma radiation blast, which later transformed him into an almost-invincible, raging green monster called the Hulk.
Gamma ray bursts are quite common and the Swift satellite, which was launched in 2004, screens the space and finds around 100 gamma ray bursts every year. However, in April this year, the satellite spotted an unusual gamma ray burst.
"We suddenly saw a gamma-ray burst that was extremely bright - a monster gamma-ray burst. This one of the most powerful gamma-ray bursts we have ever observed with the Swift satellite," said astrophysicist Daniele Malesani, Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.
As soon as the NASA's Swift satellite discovers a gamma ray burst, it redirects instruments to measure X-rays, ultraviolet radiation and optical light in the visible field. As the gamma ray burst is over in just less than a minute, the entire process of collecting information is very quick. Additionally, the gamma ray is observed from the Earth using telescopes.
Scientists on Earth usually follow the afterglow of the gamma ray burst, which lasts for a few days and sometimes few weeks. Astronomers claim that the afterglow from the latest gamma ray burst was such that it was observed for several months.
Malesani said that it was after observing the afterglow that they found that the exploded star had a mass of 20 to 30 times more than the sun, but its size would have been only three to four times that of the sun.
