Posted by admin / Under Gamma Camera
A brilliant burst of gamma rays may have caused a mass extinction event on Earth 440 million years ago—and a similar celestial catastrophe could happen again, according to a new study. Most gamma-ray bursts are thought to be streams of high-energy radiation produced when the core of a very massive star collapses. Such a disaster may have been responsible for the mass die-off of 70 percent of the marine creatures that thrived during the Ordovician period (488 to 443 million years ago), suggests study leader Brian Thomas, an astrophysicist at Washburn University in Kansas. The simulation also shows that a...
Published on Thursday 29th of July 2010 01:33:27 PM
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Posted by admin / Under Gamma Camera
A massive gamma-ray burst detected last March, believed to be the brightest ever seen, turns out to have been aimed directly at the Earth. A narrow jet that drove material toward us at 99.99995 of the speed of light is revealed in the data, itself wrapped within a somewhat slower and wider jet. The best estimates are that an alignment like this occurs only once every ten years. Says Paul O’Brien (University of Leicester, and a member of the team working on the Swift satellite): “We normally detect only the wide jet of a GRB as the inner jet is...
Published on Thursday 29th of July 2010 01:33:27 PM
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Posted by admin / Under Gamma Camera
Hurricane season finally ending, but next year could be bad, too By JOHN PAIN Associated Press Writer November 29. 2005 4:27PM The busiest and costliest Atlantic hurricane season on record officially - and mercifully - draws to a close Wednesday, with hundreds of thousands of Americans still dealing with the devastation wrought by Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Despite the end of the June 1-to-Nov. 30 season, hurricanes could still form over the next few months. In fact, a tropical storm took shape in the Atlantic on Tuesday. But no hurricane has been known to hit the United States between December...
Published on Thursday 29th of July 2010 01:33:27 PM
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Posted by admin / Under Gamma Camera
The latest projected path of newly formed Tropical Storm Gamma has the system hitting the Southwest Florida coast sometime Monday.Gamma formed off the coast of Central America and tropical storm warnings were issued for the entire coast of Belize and the Bay Islands of Honduras. Mexico issued a tropical storm watch for the eastern Yucatan Peninsula, which was hit hard in October by Hurricane Wilma. The long-term track from the National Hurricane Center indicated that Gamma may take a track similar to Wilma's and head northeast toward the Florida Peninsula. Wilma tore across the southern portion of the state on...
Published on Thursday 29th of July 2010 01:33:27 PM
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Posted by admin / Under Gamma Camera
000 WONT41 KNHC 181400 DSAAT SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENT NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 900 AM EST FRI NOV 18 2005 SATELLITE IMAGERY INDICATES THAT SHOWER ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH THE REMAINS OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION TWENTY-SEVEN HAS BECOME BETTER ORGANIZED NEAR THE NORTHERN COAST OF HONDURAS. IF CURRENT TRENDS CONTINUE...A TROPICAL DEPRESSION OR TROPICAL STORM COULD FORM LATER TODAY. IF ADVISORIES ARE RE-INITIATED...WATCHES AND WARNINGS MAY BE REQUIRED FOR PORTIONS OF THE NORTHWESTERN CARIBBEAN COAST AND THE ADJACENT ISLANDS...AND INTERESTS IN THIS AREA SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS SYSTEM. EVEN IF NO ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT OCCURS...HEAVY RAINS WILL BE...
Published on Thursday 29th of July 2010 01:33:27 PM
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Posted by admin / Under Gamma Camera
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - Hal O. Anger, a pioneer of nuclear medicine who is credited with inventing the gamma camera, has died. He was 85. Anger died at his Berkeley home on Oct. 31. Called a "quiet genius" whose "instruments are still in common use today, diagnosing cancer, metabolic disorders and heart disease" by the Society of Nuclear Medicine, Anger developed his most noted invention in 1957, employing gamma radiation to depict metabolic processes within a living body. Born May 24, 1920, in Denver, Anger cultivated an interest in electronics as a boy growing up in Long Beach, where he...
Published on Thursday 29th of July 2010 01:33:27 PM
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Posted by admin / Under Gamma Camera
A huge blast of radiation from an exploding star might have been behind one of the Earth's worst mass extinctions, some 450m years ago. In the latest issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters, scientists argue that a gamma ray burst, the most powerful explosion that occurs in the universe, was responsible for the Ordovican mass extinction in which 60% of all marine invertebrates died. Gamma ray bursts are thought to be caused either when two neutron stars collide or when giant stars collapse into black holes at the end of their lives. For around 10 seconds, intense pulses of energy...
Published on Thursday 29th of July 2010 01:33:27 PM
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Posted by admin / Under Gamma Camera
Summary - (Jul 29, 2004) NASA's Swift satellite is due to arrive at Florida's Cape Canaveral today, to prepare for its launch in October. Named after the fast-moving bird, Swift will track down the fastest and most powerful known explosions in the Universe: gamma ray bursts. Swift has one instrument to detect bursts in the sky, and then it can swing around two high-resolution telescopes in less than a minute for a closer look. It'll also inform the astronomical community of a blast so that anyone watching the sky can tune in as well and watch the explosion unfold....
Published on Thursday 29th of July 2010 01:33:27 PM
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