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Ulysses gets a new partner in the hunt for the source of gamma-ray bursts

18 December 2001

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Credits: ESA

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gamma-ray burst detected by Ulysses, Mars Odyssey and BeppoSAX

The blue dot in the centre of this image (shown by the arrow) is the optical light signature of GRB011121, the gamma-ray burst detected by Ulysses, Mars Odyssey and BeppoSAX on 21 November 2001. The gamma-ray burst briefly appeared brighter than the rest of the Universe in gamma rays, before rapidly fading away.

This optical image, taken with the National Science Foundation's Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile during the morning of 23 November 2001, shows the optical transient a day and a half after the initial burst. The transient had faded in brightness from its peak by more than a factor of 100 in that period of time. The reddish dot adjoining the gamma-ray burst, at its lower left, is probably the core of the galaxy in which the gamma-ray burst occurred.

photo: M.Brown,R.Schommer,K.Olsen, B.Jannuzi,A.Dey(NOAO),A.Fruchter,J.Rhoads(STSci) AURA/NSF

Credits: M.Brown,R.Schommer,K.Olsen, B.Jannuzi,A.Dey(NOAO),A.Fruchter,J.Rhoads(STSci) AURA/NSF