Chandra Release - October 5, 2005

Visual Description: GRB 050709

 The image features an illustration of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) named GRB 050709. The illustration shows a bright, energetic looking white object with magenta and white jets shooting out of its center, and a translucent red torus.  This is surrounded by a sprinkling of dimmer stars and dark blue and purple gas and dust. This gamma-ray burst was discovered on 9 July, 2005 by NASA's High-Energy Transient Explorer. The burst radiated an enormous amount of energy in gamma-rays for half a second, then faded away. Three days later, Chandra's detection of the X-ray afterglow (shown in the lower right inset as a bright blue-white dot) established its position with high accuracy. The most likely explanation for GRB 050709 is that it was produced by a collision of two neutron stars, or a neutron star and a black hole. Such a collision would result in the formation of a black hole (or a larger black hole), and could generate a beam of high-energy particles that could account for the powerful gamma-ray pulse as well as observed radio, optical and X-ray afterglows.