‘
At the end of the year, many people make lists.
Well, so did Science magazine, and they picked Swift’s observation of short gamma-ray bursts as their 4th biggest breakthrough of the year. Since I work on Swift, I feel the need to crow a little (and also to point out that the two artists whose illustrations are used for the articles are both friends of mine; Aurore is a co-worker and I’ve known Dana for many years; he does a lot of illustration work for Hubble).
I was going to write a description of what short gamma-ray bursts are, but it turns out I had to do this for my day job first! We put out a quarterly newsletter about Swift, and I wrote an article explaining what happens when a black hole tears a neutron star apart. Check it out.
One thing I didn’t mention in the article, though, is that the energies involved are scary, very very scary. A neutron star has a surface gravity that may be a billion times the Earth’s– yes, you read that right. On a neutron star, I would weigh 170 billion pounds, about as much as a small mountain 300 meters (1000 feet) high! It would take a huge amount of energy just to lift a marshmallow off the surface of a neutron star, yet the tides from a black hole can shred one, vaporizing it.
Yikes.
Before Swift (and it’s sister satellite, HETE-2) we only had theories about these events, but now we have data, and it fits the theory beautifully. So I agree with Science magazine: Swift has been one of the better things to come along in 2005.’
December 31st, 2005 at 6:03 pm
Sweet! Congrats.
December 31st, 2005 at 6:22 pm
Congratulations Phil!
December 31st, 2005 at 6:53 pm
great stuff! Congratulations Bad Astronomer!
December 31st, 2005 at 7:38 pm
Fantastic!
Ummm…those GRBs aren’t going to happen “near” here, right? (nervously sweating at the thought…)
BTW – Artists Aurore and Dana are top-notch!
December 31st, 2005 at 8:32 pm
Well, I’m not taking any credit for Swift. I do education for it. But it’s a very good mission team, and I’m glad they’re gettign some recognition.
December 31st, 2005 at 9:28 pm
It appears we have power back at my University, so the links in the entry work, and I removed the footnote.
January 1st, 2006 at 3:17 am
I am curious to know more about this phenomena (when a black hole tears a neutron star apart) Actually, if so much energy accompanies it , what is the after effect of this explosion ? How do the neighbouring celestial bodies get affected ??
January 1st, 2006 at 5:06 am
Phil, did you err in mentioning Popular Science at the end of your entry? It appears the list came from Science Magazine as you stated at the beginning of your entry.
January 1st, 2006 at 7:16 am
Phil – nice article. Another good one for the archives.
Varun, I rather suspect that such a cataclysmic event would emit gravitational waves (that is, assuming that gravitational waves are a real phenomenon), which would warp space in the regions through which the waves travel. There would also be extraordinarily intense radiation (the GRB itself, the X-ray afterglow and, presumably, UV to follow). This would cause ionisation in nearby gas clouds. I would assume that at least some of the matter from the neutron star would be ejected as a very energetic shock wave, although I’m not sure of this. If this is the case, when the shock wave reaches nearby gas clouds, it could trigger star formation. I would not expect it to have any significant effect on stars, unless the stars are very very close to the source of the burst.
Whatever, the neighbourhood of a GRB would be inimical to life as we know it.
January 1st, 2006 at 10:45 am
Phil: Thanks for the link to the Goddard site and the fascinating information about GRB’s. I was amazed to learn that these phenomena are numerous and frequent (or did I not get that right?). If so, does that mean that black holes are equally plentiful? Or do other things generate GRB’s? If the former is right, then does it follow that the universe is a very hostile place, making life less likely to proliferate? Or is that just an uneducated extrapolation? Happy New Year and congratulations to you and all the folks at Swift.
January 1st, 2006 at 12:35 pm
hello
i’m 14 and i am brazilian…i aim be an astronomer, i love astronomy!!i’ve already made a small solar system in my room.I am very happy to write to an astronomer.
i speak english just a bit basic, i study here, then i know something about astronomy in english, but i know more in portuguese.
i’ve got an website about astronomy but it’s all in portuguese…
i’ve got a small telescope,i enjoy it a lot! Well,if you can write me i’ll be very happy, really.
hugs
January 1st, 2006 at 12:45 pm
TimG: Thanks, I made a mistake, and I’ve corrected it.
Varun: Yes, there is a profound impact on nearby systems. GRBs have their energy beamed, like a flashlight. Anyone in that beam is in bad shape if they are in the same galaxy as the burst. I don’t want to give away too much info, because I wrote an article for Sky and Telescope coming out this year with more.
But a GRB in the Andromeda Galaxy would look to us as bright as the Sun!
Richard: GRBs happen every day, but there appear to be at least two kinds, and maybe more. We think a black hole is born every time, but some scientists are saying that’s not necessarily true. It’s an interesting field to study right now!
Emily: Welcome! It is always wonderful to see a young person interested in astronomy. I think your English is good, and if you have any questions, ask them! There is also a bulletin board where you can ask questions and have lots of people help you. Enjoy!
January 1st, 2006 at 8:18 pm
That is very swift news about Swift. So much deep important research never gets to the press because of it’s weight. Can peer science be published in a tabloid style format to up it’s popularity, and, not lose it’s respect. Scientific American is a “tabloid” of sorts, as is Popular Science. Yet, it’s readership is very limited.
Great teamwork. Keep searching and publishing!
January 1st, 2006 at 10:10 pm
I also work on the Swift Education (Hi, Phil!) and love to see this sort of stuff. Okay, I didn’t put years of my life into the project and live and die by it like the scientists and engineers. However, I did get to see the satellite at Goddard under construction and on the launch pad a KSC, so there is definitely a little connection there. I check the GRB alerts frequently to see what is happening and have even downloaded the software to look at the data and am trying to hack through how to get some useful information out of it in my copious free time!
I think one of the cool things is that the data is quickly available to the public.
Rob
January 2nd, 2006 at 11:05 am
Emilly, the world need more people like you and BA, Rock on!
January 2nd, 2006 at 12:19 pm
pfff, I’ve eaten larger.
January 3rd, 2006 at 12:46 am
Good Astronomy needs Good Proofreading:
Before Swift (and >>it’s