page_title: Gamma-ray burst
hierarchical_section_title: Gamma-ray burst
caption_attribution_description: English: Artist's illustration of one model of the bright gamma-ray burst GRB&#160;080319B. The explosion is highly beamed into two bipolar jets, with a narrow inner jet surrounded by a wider outer jet. Русский: Художественная иллюстрация одной модели яркого гамма-всплеска GRB&#160;080319B. Взрыв представляется в виде мощных полярно направленных выбросов плазмы, состоящих из узких внутренних и более широких внешних струй.
context_page_description: Gamma-ray bursts are flashes of gamma rays from extremely energetic explosions. They have been seen in distant galaxies. They are the most luminous electromagnetic events known to occur in the universe.
  Bursts can last from milliseconds to several minutes, although a typical burst lasts a few seconds. The initial burst is usually followed by a longer-lived 'afterglow' emitted at longer wavelengths.
  Most GRBs are a narrow beam of intense radiation released during a supernova, as a huge rapidly spinning star collapses to form a black hole. A subclass of GRBs seem to come from a different process, perhaps the merger of binary neutron stars.
  The sources of most GRBs are billions of light years away from Earth. This suggests the explosions are extremely energetic: a typical burst releases as much energy in a few seconds as the Sun will in its entire 10 billion year lifetime. They are very rare.
  All observed GRBs have come from outside the Milky Way galaxy. Similar phenomena, soft gamma repeater flares, are associated with magnetars within the Milky Way. It has been suggested that a gamma-ray burst in the Milky Way could cause a mass extinction on Earth. No such case is known.
context_section_description: Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are flashes of gamma rays from extremely energetic explosions. They have been seen in distant galaxies. They are the most luminous electromagnetic events known to occur in the universe.
  Bursts can last from milliseconds to several minutes, although a typical burst lasts a few seconds. The initial burst is usually followed by a longer-lived 'afterglow' emitted at longer wavelengths (X-ray, ultraviolet, visible light, infrared and radio waves).
  Most GRBs are a narrow beam of intense radiation released during a supernova, as a huge rapidly spinning star collapses to form a black hole. A subclass of GRBs (the 'short' bursts) seem to come from a different process, perhaps the merger of binary neutron stars.
  The sources of most GRBs are billions of light years away from Earth. This suggests the explosions are extremely energetic: a typical burst releases as much energy in a few seconds as the Sun will in its entire 10 billion year lifetime. They are very rare (a few per galaxy per million years).
  All observed GRBs have come from outside the Milky Way galaxy. Similar phenomena, soft gamma repeater flares, are associated with magnetars within the Milky Way. It has been suggested that a gamma-ray burst in the Milky Way could cause a mass extinction on Earth. No such case is known.
caption: Artist's illustration of a bright gamma-ray burst occurring in a star-forming region. Energy from the explosion is beamed into two narrow, oppositely-directed jets.
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