CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -Swift’s X-Ray Telescope captured the afterglow of GRB 221009A about an hour after it was first detected. The bright rings form as a result of X-rays scattered from otherwise unobservable dust layers within our galaxy that lie in the direction of the burst.

Detailed explanation-2: -Gamma-ray bursts were first detected in the 1960’s by satellites scanning for nuclear explosions, which were in violation of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. These ephemeral events are called gamma-ray bursts.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Chandra X-ray Observatory is part of NASA’s eet of “Great Observatories” along with the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitizer Space Telescope and the now deorbited Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.

Detailed explanation-4: -gamma-ray telescope, instrument designed to detect and resolve gamma rays from sources outside Earth’s atmosphere. Gamma rays are the shortest waves (about 0.1 angstrom or less) and therefore have the highest energy in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Detailed explanation-5: -Earth’s atmosphere absorbs most X-rays and gamma-rays, so we need to put our telescopes and detectors above most of the Earth’s atmosphere to observe cosmic objects emitting in these wavelengths.