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Contact: Robert Sanders
rsanders@berkeley.edu
510-643-6998
University of California - Berkeley
Caption: This is an artist's illustration of a gamma-ray burst occurring in a dusty region of intense star formation. If a dust cloud lies between the burst and Earth, the optical light will be almost entirely absorbed, but the gamma-rays and X-rays will easily penetrate the dust. New evidence suggests that most "dark" gamma-ray bursts -- those without optical afterglows -- form in similar dusty environments.
Credit: Aurore Simonnet/Sonoma State University, NASA Education & Public Outreach
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Related news release: Fog lifted on "dark" gamma-ray bursts, mysterious counterparts to bursts with an afterglow
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