the.com/gamma ray burst
the universe's loudest scream, and you only hear it once before it dies mid-sentence.
means a colossal flash of gamma radiation, usually from a collapsing massive star or colliding neutron stars, briefly outshining entire galaxies.
from discovered by accident in the late 1960s by U.S. Vela satellites built to spy on Soviet nuclear tests — they caught flashes coming from deep space instead, and nobody could explain it for decades.
energy outputreleases more energy in seconds than the sun's whole lifetime
durationlasts from milliseconds to a few minutes, then vanishes
danger radiusone close enough could sterilize a planet's atmosphere
detection originfound by satellites hunting nuclear bomb tests, not stars