Physics: Principles and ProblemsChapter 26:
ElectromagnetismProblem of the Week (0.0K) | Cold
War to Serendipitous Science
On August 5, 1963, the U.S. and the USSR signed the first significant
treaty to limit nuclear weapons, the Limited Test Ban Treaty.
Two months later in an effort to monitor compliance with the
treaty, the Department of Defense launched the first Vela satellite
able to detect electromagnetic radiation given off by atmospheric
or space-based nuclear tests. In 1969, the detectors on board
the Vela 5 spacecraft discovered enormous bursts of energy in
the frequency range of light called gamma. The military's Vela
satellite had unexpectedly detected the most powerful explosions
in space, dwarfing supernovas in energy output. Scientists scrambled
to explain this new astronomical phenomenon. | For
about one to two seconds, a gamma-ray burst can be as luminous
as all the rest of the entire universe. (0.0K) | Gamma-Ray
Bursts (GRB) (15.0K)
As of 1998, scientist can still only speculate on the origin
of these spasmodic, random, energy bursts. A burst detected
on Dec. 14, 1997 was so powerful that in a few brief seconds,
it released more energy than the combined output of over 10
trillion stars. The burst, GRB 971214, originated at a distance
of 12 billion light years from Earth. Gamma-ray bursts are extremely
short lived, lasting from seconds to minutes. However, they
do continue to emit less energetic radiation for days afterward.
The presence of this afterglow provides an opportunity for scientist
to look for the source of a GRB. Is the source a black hole,
a supernova, a neutron star...? Theorists are still speculating
about the intriguing phenomena of GRBs. | (0.0K) | The
afterglow of radiation from a GRB starts at gamma rays and gradually
proceeds to longer and longer wavelengths. What is the sequence
of radiation from gamma down to the long wavelengths of radio?
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triaxial fluxgate magnetometer is mounted at the end of a 2.6
meter boom. Why might this configuration be necessary? | (1.0K) | To
obtain news on the Lunar Prospector mission, go to http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/index.html.
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