Telescopic instruments in Earth and space are still tracking a tremendous explosion that occurred across the universe. A nearly unprecedented symphony of international observations began abruptly on March 1 when Earth-orbiting RXTE [ http://heasarc.gsfc…], Sun-orbiting Ulysses [ http://helio.estec.…], and asteroid-orbiting NEAR [ http://near.jhuapl.…] all detected [ http://gcn.gsfc.nas…] a 10-second burst [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] of high-frequency gamma radiation [ http://imagine.gsfc…]. Within 48 hours astronomers using the 2.5-meter Nordic Optical Telescope [ http://www.astro.lu…] chimed in with the observation of a middle-frequency optical counterpart [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] that was soon confirmed with the 3.5-meter Calar Alto Telescope [ http://www.mpia-hd.…] in Spain. By the next day the explosion was picked up in low-frequency radio waves [ http://imagine.gsfc…] by the by the European IRAM [ http://www.iram.es/] 30-meter dish in Spain, and then by the VLA [ http://info.aoc.nra…] telescopes in the US. The Japanese 8-meter Subaru Telescope [ http://www.subaru.n…] interrupted a maiden engineering test [ http://gcn.gsfc.nas…] to trumpet in infrared [ http://www.ipac.cal…] observations. Major telescopes across the globe soon began playing along as GRB 000301C came into view, detailing unusual behavior [ http://gcn.gsfc.nas…]. The Hubble Space Telescope [ http://www.stsci.ed…] captured the above image [ http://www-int.stsc…] and was the first to obtain [ http://gcn.gsfc.nas…] an accurate distance to the explosion, placing it near redshift 2, most of the way across the visible universe. The Keck II Telescope [ http://www2.keck.ha…] in Hawaii quickly confirmed and refined [ http://gcn.gsfc.nas…] the redshift. Still, no one is sure what type of explosion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] this was. The symphony is not over - oddly no host galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] appears near the position of this explosion. Will one appear as the din of the loud fireball fades [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]?
Explanation
Telescopic instruments in Earth and space are still tracking a tremendous explosion that occurred across the universe. A nearly unprecedented symphony of international observations began abruptly on March 1 when Earth-orbiting RXTE [ http://heasarc.gsfc…], Sun-orbiting Ulysses [ http://helio.estec.…], and asteroid-orbiting NEAR [ http://near.jhuapl.…] all detected [ http://gcn.gsfc.nas…] a 10-second burst [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] of high-frequency gamma radiation [ http://imagine.gsfc…]. Within 48 hours astronomers using the 2.5-meter Nordic Optical Telescope [ http://www.astro.lu…] chimed in with the observation of a middle-frequency optical counterpart [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] that was soon confirmed with the 3.5-meter Calar Alto Telescope [ http://www.mpia-hd.…] in Spain. By the next day the explosion was picked up in low-frequency radio waves [ http://imagine.gsfc…] by the by the European IRAM [ http://www.iram.es/] 30-meter dish in Spain, and then by the VLA [ http://info.aoc.nra…] telescopes in the US. The Japanese 8-meter Subaru Telescope [ http://www.subaru.n…] interrupted a maiden engineering test [ http://gcn.gsfc.nas…] to trumpet in infrared [ http://www.ipac.cal…] observations. Major telescopes across the globe soon began playing along as GRB 000301C came into view, detailing unusual behavior [ http://gcn.gsfc.nas…]. The Hubble Space Telescope [ http://www.stsci.ed…] captured the above image [ http://www-int.stsc…] and was the first to obtain [ http://gcn.gsfc.nas…] an accurate distance to the explosion, placing it near redshift 2, most of the way across the visible universe. The Keck II Telescope [ http://www2.keck.ha…] in Hawaii quickly confirmed and refined [ http://gcn.gsfc.nas…] the redshift. Still, no one is sure what type of explosion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] this was. The symphony is not over - oddly no host galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] appears near the position of this explosion. Will one appear as the din of the loud fireball fades [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]?
