A team of astronomers led by Benito Marcote (JIV-ERIC) have found the ‘smoking gun’ of an ‘orphan’ gamma-ray burst afterglow.
Gamma-ray bursts are brief, intense flashes of gamma-rays that are difficult to detect. They are believed to be linked to cataclysmic events such as the collapse of a massive star, or the collision and merger of two neutron stars. Evidence of an ‘orphan’ gamma-ray burst afterglow provides astronomers with more possibilities to study, and ultimately understand, such phenomena.
A total of 12 antennas from the European VLBI Network (EVN) were involved in this observation: Jodrell Bank Mark2 (UK), Westerbork single-dish (The Netherlands), Effelsberg (Germany), Medicina (Italy), Onsala (Sweden), Tianma (China), Toruń (Poland), Hartebeesthoek (South Africa), Sardinia (Italy), and three antennas from e-MERLIN (Cambridge, Defford, and Knockin) in UK.
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