Images by Date
Images by Category
Solar System
Stars
Exoplanets
White Dwarfs
Supernovas
Neutron Stars
Black Holes
Milky Way Galaxy
Normal Galaxies
Quasars
Galaxy Clusters
Cosmology/Deep Field
Miscellaneous
Images by Interest
Space Scoop for Kids
4K JPG
Multiwavelength
Sky Map
Constellations
Photo Blog
Top Rated Images
Image Handouts
Desktops
Fits Files
Image Tutorials
Photo Album Tutorial
False Color
Cosmic Distance
Look-Back Time
Scale & Distance
Angular Measurement
Images & Processing
AVM/Metadata
Image Use Policy
Web Shortcuts
Chandra Blog
RSS Feed
Chronicle
Email Newsletter
News & Noteworthy
Image Use Policy
Questions & Answers
Glossary of Terms
Download Guide
Get Adobe Reader
More Information
Miscellaneous Objects
X-ray Astronomy Field Guide
Miscellaneous Objects
Questions and Answers
Miscellaneous Objects
Chandra Images
Miscellaneous Objects
Related Podcasts
Tour: A Fab Five: New Images With NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
Download Image

More Information

More Images
Hubble Optical Image
of GRB 050709
GRB 050709
Jpg,
(Credit: NASA/STScI/Penn State/D.Fox)

Animation & Video


Related Images
GRB 031203
GRB 031203
(04 Aug 04)
GRB 020813
GRB 020813
(24 Mar 03)
GRB 010222
GRB 010222
(04 Apr 01)
GRB 050709:
35-Year-Old Cosmic Mystery Solved in a Flash


GRB 050709
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Caltech/D.Fox et al.; Illustration: NASA/D.Berry

An artist's rendering (left) of GRB 050709 depicts a gamma-ray burst that was discovered on 9 July, 2005 by NASA's High-Energy Transient Explorer. The burst radiated an enormous amount of energy in gamma-rays for half a second, then faded away. Three days later, Chandra's detection of the X-ray afterglow (inset) established its position with high accuracy.

A Hubble Space Telescope image showed that the burst occurred in the outskirts of a spiral galaxy about 2 billion light years from Earth. This location is outside the star-forming regions of the galaxy and evidence that the burst was not produced by the explosion of an extremely massive star.

The most likely explanation for GRB 050709 is that it was produced by a collision of two neutron stars, or a neutron star and a black hole. Such a collision would result in the formation of a black hole (or a larger black hole), and could generate a beam of high-energy particles that could account for the powerful gamma-ray pulse as well as observed radio, optical and X-ray afterglows.

This gamma-ray burst is one of a class of short-duration bursts that now appear to have a different origin from the more powerful, long-duration gamma-ray bursts that last more than two seconds. Long-duration bursts have been connected to black holes formed in the explosion of extremely massive stars, or hypernovas.

Fast Facts for GRB 050709:
Credit  X-ray: NASA/CXC/Caltech/D.Fox et al.; Illustration: NASA/D.Berry
Scale  Inset X-ray image is 46 arcsecacross.
Category  Miscellaneous Objects
Coordinates (J2000)  RA 23h 01m 30.00s | Dec -38º 58' 33.00"
Constellation  Grus
Observation Dates  12 July 2005
Observation Time  12 hours
Obs. IDs  5587
Color Code  Intensity
Instrument  ACIS
References D. Fox et al. Nature, Oct 6, 2005, vol 437, pp 845-850
Distance Estimate  About 2 billion light years
Release Date  October 05, 2005