An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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A space observatory, formerly named GLAST, devoted to the study of → gamma rays emitted from astrophysical objects. Developed by NASA in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States, Fermi was launched on June 11, 2008. The main instrument, the Large Area Telescope (LAT), is an imaging → camera covering the energy range from about 20 → MeV to more than 300 → GeV. Such gamma rays are emitted only in the most extreme conditions, by particles moving very nearly at the → speed of light. The LAT's → field of view covers about 20% of the sky at any time, and it scans continuously, covering the whole sky every three hours. Another instrument, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) has a field of view several times larger than the LAT and provides → spectral coverage of → gamma-ray burst that extends from the lower limit of the LAT down to 10 → keV.

→ Fermi; → gamma ray; → space; → telescope.

The study of → gamma rays from → extraterrestrial → sources, especially → gamma-ray bursts.

→ gamma ray; → astronomy.

An intense discharge of → gamma rays, which range in duration from tenth of a second to tens of seconds and occur from sources widely distributed over the sky. The radio wave → afterglow from the → burst can last more than a year, making long-term observations of the sources possible. The favored hypothesis is that they are produced by a relativistic jet created by the merger of two → compact objects (specifically two → neutron stars or a neutron star and a → black hole). Mergers of this kind are also expected to create significant quantities of neutron-rich radioactive species, whose decay should result in a faint → transient, known as a → kilonova, in the days following the burst. Indeed, it is speculated that this mechanism may be the predominant source of stable → r-process elements in the Universe. Recent calculations suggest that much of the kilonova energy should appear in the → near-infrared spectral range, because of the high optical opacity created by these heavy r-process elements (Tanvir et al., 2017, Nature 500, 547).

→ gamma rays; → burst.

The → object or → phenomenon at the origin of a → gamma-ray burst.

→ gamma ray; → burster.

1) An astronomical object that emits → gamma rays.
2) A radioactive material that emits gamma rays in a form that can be used in medical imaging.

→ gamma ray; → source.

A follow-up community network concerned with → gamma-ray burst (GRB)s. It deals with: 1) locations of GRBs and other → transients detected by spacecraft (most in real-time while the GRB is still bursting), and 2) reports of follow-up observations (the Circulars) made by ground-based and space-based optical, radio, X-ray, TeV, and other observers. The GCN Circulars allow the GRB follow-up community to make optimum use of its limited resources (labor and telescope time) by communicating what has already been done or will soon be done.

→ gamma ray; → coordinate; → network.

Same as → soft gamma repeater (SGR).

→ soft; → gamma ray; → repeater.