Gamma-ray Bursts: Harvesting Knowledge From the Universe's Most Powerful Explosions

The most powerful events in the known universe - gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) - are short-lived outbursts of the highest-energy light. They can erupt with a quintillion (a 10 followed by 18 zeros) times the luminosity of our Sun. Now thought to announce the births of new black holes, they were discovered by accident. The backstory