This week we’ll be hearing about a cosmic phenomenon that’s been baffling astronomers since the 1960’s. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.
“Gamma Rays are just ordinary light except at very high energy and what that means is Gamma Rays interact with things very differently than other kinds of light and for that reason they’re quite fascinating.”
Dr. Neil de Grasse Tyson is Frederick P. Rose Director of New York’s Hayden Planetarium.
“Gamma Ray bursts when they were discovered and even today, are one of the biggest mysteries in the universe. They were discovered in the 1960’s as part of a project by the United States to monitor atmospheric tests of nuclear explosions.”
But during those tests, scientists discovered that there was another source of Gamma Rays coming from outer space.
“That news didn’t become declassified until the early 1970’s and since then there have been hundreds and hundreds of proposed models for what could cause a Gamma Ray burst and still there is very little agreement as to what they are. What makes them extraordinary is that if they hail from the outer reaches of the universe, which evidence seems to suggest that they do, then they would have an energy output which is greater than all the energy emitted by our sun for its entire ten billion year lifetime. All that energy coming out in a matter of seconds. In some cases, maybe minutes. And this is phenomenal. They represent a source of energy that is higher than anything we have ever seen anywhere else in the universe.”
Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. I’m Jim Metzner.