BRITISH AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS WITNESS LARGEST EXPLOSION IN UNIVERSE Last Friday night (4th Oct) amateur astronomers around the country were training their telescopes on an incredibly distant explosion - the most powerful known in the universe - a so-called gamma-ray burst (GRB). Observing these rare events is normally the province of giant professional telescopes on high mountain-top sites, and this is the first occasion that one has been photographed from Britain. Although known since the 1960s, the immense distance and power of GRBs was only established in 1997. Since then, as soon as one is detected (by astronomical satellites which respond to the characteristic high energy radiation which gives GRBs their name), a race begins with observers around the world trying to pinpoint its exact location before the afterglow fades from view after only a few hours. In this instance the afterglow was first seen in California, so observers in this country knew just where to look when night fell here. The first successful detections were from Mark Armstrong in Kent (quote: "We've been chasing GRBs for a couple of years now, and it's great to see one at last") and Nick James in Essex (quote: "The amazing thing is that the light we're detecting began its journey before the solar system was even formed."). They were closely followed by Tom Boles and Martin Mobberley in Suffolk, David Strange in Dorset, Peter Birtwhistle in Berkshire, Eddie Guscott also in Essex and observers at the University of Hertfordshire Observatory. Dr Nial Tanvir, a researcher in GRBs at the University of Hertfordshire, alerted the network of backyard scientists during the afternoon, while simultaneously arranging for the burst to be observed by several of the UK's large overseas telescopes. "By putting together data from telescopes all around the world we can learn more about what causes GRBs, which at the moment is still a mystery. The favourite idea is that they violent ejections produced during the last moments in the life of some massive stars, just as they are in the process of collapsing to form black-holes. Because they are unpredictable and fade so fast, when they do occur we try to observe them with every telescope we can." NASA takes the role of amateur astronomers in GRB research sufficiently seriously that it helps fund the liaison between the American Association of Variable Star Observers, and other amateur groups worldwide. In the UK, the coordination effort is led by Guy Hurst and The Astronomer magazine. IMAGES ------ Several images and some further description can be found at The Astronomer magazine website: http://www.theastronomer.org/grb021004.html Caption: These pictures show the faint fading afterglow of GRB021004. The GRB afterglow only shows up as a faint spot of light, but that's because it is about 10 billion light years away, or three-quarters of the way to the edge of the observable universe. In fact at it's peak, a GRB radiates with the power of a million billion Suns! CONTACTS -------- For further information: Nial Tanvir (University of Hertfordshire) nrt@star.herts.ac.uk work: 01707 286299 mobile: 07980 136499 home: 01763 241841 Mark Armstrong mark.armstrong@dial.pipex.com 01580 241388 Nick James ndj@blueyonder.co.uk Tom Boles tomboles@surfanytime.co.uk Martin Mobberley MartinMobberley@compuserve.com Guy Hurst (Editor of The Astronomer) guy@tahq.demon.co.uk 01256 471074