By Ron Cowen
A brilliant flash of high-energy radiation recorded on Feb. 22 lasted for less
than a minute. But this gamma-ray burst, one of the brightest ever detected, is
providing the strongest evidence so far that these cosmic flashbulbs originate in
star-forming regions of distant galaxies and are generated by the explosive death
of massive stars.
The findings support the notion that these brilliant bursts and their afterglows
can enable astronomers to study galaxies that lie too far away and are too dusty