Artist animation of a star exploding into a supernova and fueling a gamma-ray burst

26 July, 2018 / Read time: 1 minute

Artist animation of a star exploding into a supernova and fueling a gamma-ray burst. Astronomers caught the enduring "afterglow" of one of these cataclysmic explosions with both ALMA and the VLA for the first time. The rebound, or reverse shock, triggered by the GRB’s powerful jets slamming into surrounding debris, lasted thousands of times longer than expected, giving astronomers an unprecedented glimpse into the structure and dynamics of the jets.

Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF; S. Dangello