1 00:00:12,220 --> 00:00:04,100 Music 2 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:16,240 Phil Plait: Gamma rays are the highest energy form of light. 3 00:00:16,260 --> 00:00:20,330 Dave Thompson: There's the light we see with our eyes, but their lots of other types of light. Gamma 4 00:00:20,350 --> 00:00:24,390 rays are the most energetic form of light, the most powerful. 5 00:00:24,410 --> 00:00:28,460 Valerie Connaughton: Gamma rays are the part of what we call the electromagnetic spectrum 6 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:32,510 which starts in radio, at very long wavelengths, goes through optical, 7 00:00:32,530 --> 00:00:36,570 then through x-rays, and then gamma rays are the very highest energy form 8 00:00:36,590 --> 00:00:40,620 of that type of radiation. Neil Gehrels: The reason that it's important to look at the 9 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:44,670 high-energy gamma rays is that many objects, the most violent 10 00:00:44,690 --> 00:00:48,700 and some of the most interesting objects in the universe emit most of their light 11 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:52,760 in this high-energy gamma ray part. Phil Plait: And the only thing that can generate gamma rays 12 00:00:52,780 --> 00:00:56,780 are incredibly violent events, incredibly energetic events. And we're talking 13 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:00,890 stars exploding and neutron stars with really strong magnetic 14 00:01:00,910 --> 00:01:04,970 fields and really exotic and strange objects like that. Isabelle Grenier: It's 15 00:01:04,990 --> 00:01:09,040 like a Christmas tree it's shining, and it's flaring and their are eruptions 16 00:01:09,060 --> 00:01:13,110 every day. Peter Michelson: Gamma-ray bursts being an example of something that, for a 17 00:01:13,130 --> 00:01:17,160 brief instant of time outshines the entire rest of the universe. 18 00:01:17,180 --> 00:01:21,210 Chip Meegan: These are the biggest explosions in the universe. 19 00:01:21,230 --> 00:01:25,250 Music