Thaindian News

July 16, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): A burst of intense light was detected by the scientists in outer space. The searing flash of light was so strong that it blinded the satellite set to record the momentous astronomical event. The nature of the light has been detected as X-Rays. The rays had, in fact, been traversing through space for about 5 billion years before it was viewed by the telescope which was placed on a satellite called Swift. The mission was a joint endeavor by US, UK and Italy.

The source of the blinding light was found out to be the result of a star collapsing into the black hole. The ray was further categorized as a Gamma Ray burst which was totally unprecedented reported Neil Gehrels who was the chief investigator aboard Swift.

Further investigations as well as analysis of the light revealed it to be more than 140 times stronger than the most powerful X-ray lights seen in the space. Studies are on and the scientists are particularly excited at this path breaking revelation.

The Swift was specially built to study the nature of Gamma Rays but was blinded for an instant. It was not capable of handling a light so great in intensity. The software used for analyzing the data was shut down instantly too. The bombardment of photons were too intense to be handled as well.

Phil Evans is the scientist who got to see the processed data after the burst of light. He states that he knew that they were on their way to discover something extraordinary after taking a look at the strange data.