Astronomers have observed the longest-ever gamma-ray burst — a powerful, extragalactic explosion that lasted over seven hours. Rapid follow-up observations with the U.S. Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera and the International Gemini Observatory provided crucial information about the possible origin of this extraordinary event and the galaxy that hosts it. Bios: - Rob Sparks is in the Communications, Education and Engagement group at NSF's NOIRLab in Tucson, Arizona. - Jonathan Carney is a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he studies time-domain astronomy with a focus on tidal disruption events. His research spans the full pipeline of transient discovery and characterization, from developing machine learning models for the forthcoming Argus Array to conducting follow-up observations with NOIRLab telescopes. https://carneyjo.github.io/ We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

Related