Giant Space Blasts a Two-Step Process

[Yamialpha]

Scientists have taken another step closer to explaining mysterious gamma ray bursts, some of the most energetic and bright explosions in the sky.

Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) – the harbingers of death for some massive stars – are intense blasts of energy and radiation that eject from massive dying stars.

Now, scientists at the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) in Italy have used NASA’s Swift satellite – specially designed to automatically detect GRBs – to determine that GRBs are a two-step explosion.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050817_swift_bursts.html