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The Host Galaxies of Gamma-ray Bursts
This is a sampling of the host galaxies of long-duration gamma-ray bursts taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Gamma-ray bursts are powerful flashes of high-energy radiation that arise from some supernovae, the explosive deaths of extremely massive stars. Long-duration bursts last more than one to two seconds.
The green crosshairs pinpoint the location of the gamma-ray bursts, now long faded away. The galaxies in these images were part of a study that compared the environments of long bursts with those of supernovae. Only a small fraction of a certain type of supernovae produces gamma-ray bursts.
These six images show the wide variety of host galaxies of gamma-ray bursts. The distances of these bursts range from 2 billion to 10 billion light-years from Earth. Most of the galaxies in these images are misshapen, irregular galaxies. The only exception is the spiral galaxy in the middle image on the top row. In this image, the bright round objects above, below, and to the right of the cross hairs are foreground stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way Galaxy.
Researchers conducting the study found that long bursts occur in the brightest regions of mostly irregular galaxies where the most massive stars are forming. Typical supernovae, on the other hand, are more uniformly distributed across their host galaxies. Supernovae also come from larger, more developed galaxies than do the gamma-ray bursts.
The images were taken between 1999 and 2005 by Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, and Advanced Camera for Surveys.
The team that made the study consists of A. Fruchter (Space Telescope Science Institute, or STScI); A. Levan (STScI/University of Leicester/University of Hertfordshire); L. Strolger (STScI/Western Kentucky University); P. Vreeswijk (European Southern Observatory, Chile); S.Thorsett (University of California, Santa Cruz); D. Bersier (STScI/Astrophysics Research Institute/Liverpool John Moores University); I. Burud (STScI/Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen); J. Castro Ceron (STScI/Niels Bohr Institute/University of Copenhagen); A. Castro-Tirado (Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Spain); C. Conselice (California Institute of Technology/University of Nottingham); T. Dahlen (Stockholm University); H. Ferguson (STScI); J. Fynbo (Niels Bohr Institute/University of Copenhagen); P. Garnavich (University of Notre Dame); R. Gibbons (STScI/Vanderbilt University); J. Gorosabel (STScI/Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Spain); T. Gull (NASA/GSFC); J. Hjorth (Niels Bohr Institute/University of Copenhagen); S. Holland (NASA/GSFC); C. Kouveliotou (NASA/MSFC); Z. Levay and M. Livio (STScI); M.R. Metzger (Renaissance Technologies Corporation, New York); P. Nugent (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory); L. Petro (STScI); E. Pian (INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Italy); J. Rhoads, A. Riess, and K. Sahu (STScI); A. Smette (European Southern Observatory, Chile); N. Tanvir (University of Hertfordshire); R. Wijers (University of Amsterdam); and S. Woosley (University of California, Santa Cruz)
About the Object
- DimensionsDimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.Each image is 3.75 arcseconds in width.
About the Data
- Data DescriptionData DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.The Hubble images wrer created from HST data from proposals:
8189 and 9405 Principal Investigator: Fruchter
8640: Principal Investigator: Holland
8867: Principal Investigator: Kulkarni
The science team includes: A. Fruchter (STScI), A. Levan (STScI/University of Leicester/University of Hertfordshire), L. Strolger (STScI/Western Kentucky University), P. Vreeswijk (European Southern Observatory, Chile), S.Thorsett (University of California, Santa Cruz), D. Bersier (STScI/Astrophysics Research Institute/Liverpool John Moores University), I. Burud (STScI/Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen), J. Castro Ceron (STScI/Niels Bohr Institute/University of Copenhagen), A. Castro-Tirado (Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Spain), C. Conselice (California Institute of Technology/University of Nottingham), T. Dahlen (Stockholm University), H. Ferguson (STScI), J. Fynbo (Niels Bohr Institute/University of Copenhagen), P. Garnavich (University of Notre Dame), R. Gibbons (STScI/Vanderbilt University), J. Gorosabel (STScI/Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Spain), T. Gull (NASA/GSFC), J. Hjorth (Niels Bohr Institute/University of Copenhagen), S. Holland (NASA/GSFC), C. Kouveliotou (NASA/MSFC), Z. Levay and M. Livio (STScI), M.R. Metzger (Renaissance Technologies Corporation, New York), P. Nugent (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), L. Petro (STScI), E. Pian (INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Italy), J. Rhoads, A. Riess, and K. Sahu (STScI), A. Smette (European Southern Observatory, Chile), N. Tanvir (University of Hertfordshire), R. Wijers (University of Amsterdam), and S. Woosley (University of California, Santa Cruz). - InstrumentInstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.HST>STIS, HST>WFPC2, and HST>ACS
- Exposure DatesExposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.Various dates: April 2000 – May 2005
- FiltersFiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.GRB980703: STIS: 50CCD, 52x0.5 (G750L)GRB990705: STIS: F28x50LP and 50CCDGRB990712: STIS: 50CCD, 52x0.5 (G750L, G750M)GRB000926: WFPC2: F450W, F606W, and F814WSTIS: F25QTZGRB030329: ACS/WFC: F606WGRB020903:ACS/WFC: F435W, F660W, F814WACS/HRC: F250WNICMOS/NIC2: F110W and F160WSTIS: 52x0.5 (G430L) and 50CCD (G800L)
- Object NameObject NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.[Top row, left to right] GRB980703, GRB990705, GRB990712[Bottome row, left to right] GRB000926, GRB030329, GRB020903
- Object DescriptionObject DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.Gamma Ray Bursts
- Release DateApril 24, 2007
- Science ReleaseThe Carina Nebula: Star Birth in the Extreme
- Credits
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Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
