ASTROPHYSICS:
Lucky Star Sheds Light On Gamma Ray Burst
Mark Sincell
Astrophysicists have glimpsed the expanding O left by the afterglow of a distant gamma ray burst. A well-placed star, they believe, accidentally acted as a telescope, focusing light from the O so that more of it reached Earth. The resulting "microlensing" may have given scientists their first direct evidence that gamma ray bursts blow fiery bubbles into the cosmos.