GRB 9/16/09?

[whoaJeffrey]

I was just looking up information about GRBs (Gamma Ray Bursts). I stumbled across http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn3/9912.gcn3. Now since I know just about nothing about GRBs, or how they're monitored, I was wondering if anyone knew if this is a new GRB that has been detected.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Yes, it is a new one, you can tell by the GRB name. It is GRB 090915. The name is GRB yymmdd so this was discovered on 2009 Sept 15.
It's in the constellation Serpens, currently in the daytime sky.

Wayne

 

[kg]

I was just looking up information about GRBs (Gamma Ray Bursts). I stumbled across http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn3/9912.gcn3. Now since I know just about nothing about GRBs, or how they're monitored, I was wondering if anyone knew if this is a new GRB that has been detected.

Gamma Ray Bursts are being detected on just about a daily basis. Here is a website that is supposed to list GRBs in real time. http://grb.sonoma.edu/index.php
Looking at this site right now they only have reports as recently as Sept. 4th but the site does give details about how and when the GRB was detected and how it was followed up.

 

[whoaJeffrey]

Sweet. I thought that they were named as such (and usually suffixed with A, B, C, D, etc?) Thanks for the links guys. I'd guess it hasn't been added to the exhaustive list you mentioned since it was just discovered. I didn't realize GRBs were this common, I thought they were very rare. I think I'll follow this one to learn more about them. Thanks again

wJ

 

[MeteorWayne]

The suffix only is added if more than one are discovered on a day. I'm not 100% sure of the first has no suffix, or once the second is discovered the first is given an a and the second a b, etc. I believe the latter is the case, but I'm sure that if you look through the list it would become clear.

Edit: after looking at the list it appears I am correct. If more than one is found in a day, the first has an a added, the second a b, etc. If there is only one on that day there is no suffix