Since the launch of the Compton satellite in the 1990s, scientists have been able to study GRBs much more closely than ever since their discovery in the 1960s and scientists have determined, posited and debunked many facts, theories, and myths regarding GRBs. GRBs usually occur on average once per day. They originate from all different direction in the sky and do not emanate from any single point in the Universe. Scientists believe that GRBs are the result of collapsing stars that are forming a black hole then eject material into space that is focused by magnetic fields, or a dying star that has produced a supernova explosion at the end of it's life, or potentially two neutron stars that have merged and produced a violent explosion. GRBs are typically 100 times brighter than the supernovas and about a million trillion times brighter than the sun [CITATION NAS13 l 1033 ]. The GRB is difficult to see, as the burst is a focused point of light which means that we can only observe the bursts if they just happen to be pointed in. The material is ejected from whatever source into to narrow and opposing direction jets of gamma ray photons which is why they are difficult to see. .
GRB Scale (Short vs. Long).
GRBs are classified into two groups to help Scientists while studying these phenomena. The two classes were created because it is believed that two different types of sources between seconds (see table 1) which account for approximately 30% of the known gamma ray bursts that scientists have observed and it is believed to be associated with neutron stars collapsing into each other creating a massive black hole. A long gamma ray burst is any that lasts longer than two seconds and scientists believed that they are created from supernova. This type of GRB accounts for the remaining 70% of the bursts that are detected in the Universe. [ CITATION NAS13 l 1033 ] There are other ways that scientists have introduced to further categorize the GRBs.
