Star spotted on the brink of a gamma ray burst – and it’s alarmingly close to Earth

With the power to unleash as much energy in 10 seconds as the Sun does in its entire lifetime, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most energetic events in the universe, second only to the Big Bang itself. Given how sudden they are, we don’t usually get any warning, but now astronomers have spotted the telltale signs of a star system that could blow its lid any moment – and it’s far too close to Earth for comfort.

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Tau.Neutrino said:

Star spotted on the brink of a gamma ray burst – and it’s alarmingly close to Earth

With the power to unleash as much energy in 10 seconds as the Sun does in its entire lifetime, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most energetic events in the universe, second only to the Big Bang itself. Given how sudden they are, we don’t usually get any warning, but now astronomers have spotted the telltale signs of a star system that could blow its lid any moment – and it’s far too close to Earth for comfort.

more…

That’s an actual photo? Not an artist’s impression? It’s an actual photo, “A thermal infrared image of Apep, where the pinwheel structure of dust and gas surrounding the dying star is clear”.

Forget GRB, but we could very well be seeing the first stage of a supernova. Or, slightly less spectacularly, a planetary nebula. Definitely worth watching.

“The stars belong to a group known as Wolf-Rayet stars, which are rare, hot and luminous. What makes this pair particularly eye-catching is the “pinwheel” of dust and gas that’s swirling around them. This is created by the extremely fast stellar winds generated as one of the stars throws off its outer layers of mass during its death throes.”

Look up “wolf rayet” in an image search.

Many other spectacular images.

Eg.