The frequency of high-energy gamma ray bursts

Monday, September 22, 2014 - 05:30 in Physics & Chemistry

In the 1960s a series of satellites were built as part of Project Vela.  Project Vela was intended to detect violations of the 1963 ban on above ground testing of nuclear weapons.  The Vela satellites were designed to detect bursts of gamma rays, which are high energy electromagnetic waves (light) produced by radioactive decay.  If any nuclear weapon was detonated in space, the resulting radioactive decay would release a large amount of gamma rays which would be detected by the Vela satellites.

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