Telescope spies cataclysmic blast (BBC) {Gamma rays are comin' to getcha!}

[eppur_se_muova]

Astronomers have recorded the most powerful radiation blast from deep space yet detected.

The event was observed by Nasa's recently launched Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and reported in the online edition of the journal Science.

The source of the blast is assumed to be the catastrophic implosion of a star, to create a black hole.

Scientists say the spectacle's energy release was equivalent to thousands of ordinary exploding stars.

"This is the most spectacular burst ever seen at high energy," said Dr Valerie Connaughton, a scientist from the University of Alabama, Huntsville, and a member of Fermi's Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) instrument team.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7901295.stm

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/high_grb.html

Isn't "ordinary exploding star" something of an oxymoran?

:hi: Feel free to post your own Oscar^®-themed 'exploding star' joke! :hi:

[havocmom]

1. thanks for post and link

Off to do something mundane in hopes of coming up with an exploding star gag...