Gemini North and Hubble image of GRB afterglow (annotated) (IMAGE)

Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)

Gemini North and Hubble image of GRB afterglow (annotated)

Caption

This Gemini North image, superimposed on an image taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, shows the telltale near-infrared afterglow of a kilonova produced by a long GRB (GRB 211211A). This discovery challenges the prevailing theory that long GRBs exclusively come from supernovae, the end-of-life explosions of massive stars.

Credit

International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Zamani; NASA/ESA

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License

CC BY

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