by twit
‘hooray’ may be a bit of an overstatement…
“A gamma ray burst that occurred 7.5 billion years ago was visible on Earth by the naked eye this week. It was “2.5 million times brighter than the most powerful supernova ever seen.”
“a History Channel video about Gamma ray bursts [says] “Scientists at the University of Kansas believe gamma ray bursts were responsible for a great mass extinction on Earth 450 million years ago. The gamma rays strip away the ozone layer and generates a chemical smog, producing a widespread chill that grips the globe.”
hmm… “If one of these gamma ray bursts should happen sufficiently close to the solar system, all life would perish.”
update: NASA has more information and a very grainy video:
Via The Associated Press:
“This is roughly halfway to the edge of the universe”
(the little blip in the middle is the planet-vaporizing gamma ray explosion)
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