universetoday.com
Shedding Light on Dark Gamma Ray Bursters
With the launch of NASA's Swift spacecraft, Gamma Ray Bursts - those "most powerful explosions in the Universe" - have been in the news on a regular basis. When a GRB is detected, a worldwide network of instruments tune in and image the afterglow in every possible wavelength, from radio to visible to gamma ray. But some bursts are "dark", causing a brilliant flash in gamma rays, but absolutely nothing in the visible spectrum. The "dark gamma ray bursters" are a mystery to astronomers, but a team of international astronomers think they have a way to narrow down the search for an explanation.
Fraser Cain