It's also peculiar that it's not quite like a normal X-ray burst, which we see occasionally from stars within our galaxy, said Fenimore. Alternately, and just as likely, it's just a slightly odd stellar event that we won't ever understand clearly but at least it tells us that HETE's out there being busy. Initially, the localization accuracy of GRB alerts will be checked before releasing the e-mail alerts, necessitating a delay of about one orbital period. Over the next one to two months, the team expects to transition to nearly immediate alert releases. These instruments are capable of immediate inter-instrument communication, the key to their planned success at capturing the fleeting gamma ray bursts as they occur.
All instruments use on-board sensors to determine safe and appropriate operational conditions.
The science team includes members from the University of California, Berkeley and Santa Cruz and the University of Chicago. Ambrosiano New issue of LANL The Los Alamos News Letter will appear in all employees' mail boxes this week. This week's issue will highlight the changes in the new University of California contract, with a special guest editorial by Laboratory Director John Browne who addresses the contract challenges. This talk will be open to all employees and also will be shown on Labnet Channel 9. The lecture was part of National Engineering Week activities at the museum.