The most energetic electromagnetic events in the universe, consisting of intense flashes of gamma radiation that can last from milliseconds to several minutes. They are thought to be produced by the collapse of massive stars or the merger of neutron stars.
From 'gamma ray' (named by Rutherford in 1903, third letter of Greek alphabet) and 'burst' from Old English berstan 'to break suddenly'. First detected by military satellites in 1967, the term became standard in astrophysics by the 1970s.
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