The most energetic electromagnetic events in the universe, consisting of intense flashes of gamma radiation lasting from milliseconds to several minutes. They are thought to be produced by collapsing massive stars or merging neutron stars.
First discovered in the late 1960s by military satellites designed to detect nuclear weapons tests, the name simply describes the phenomenon: bursts of gamma rays (the highest energy form of light). The mysterious nature of these events puzzled astronomers for decades.
Gamma ray bursts are the universe's biggest explosions since the Big Bang - a single burst can release more energy in 10 seconds than our Sun will produce in its entire 10-billion-year lifetime! If one occurred within 6,000 light-years of Earth, it could cause a mass extinction.
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