Number 36 (Story #4), May 31, 1991 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein GAMMA-RAY BURSTS ARE GALACTIC IN ORIGIN . This is the conclusion of a French-Soviet team of astronomers who have carried out a statistical survey of burst directions recorded by a number of spacecraft-based detectors. Gamma-ray bursts are brief flashes (usually only a few seconds long) of gamma photons from sources which are never heard from again. Because the bursts are so ephemeral and because their distribution appears to be isotropic across the sky, it has been difficult to determine whether they come primarily from within the Milky Way or from extra-galactic sources. According to Charles Dermer of Rice University, the Gamma Ray Observatory is presently recording about one new burst per day. (Nature, 23 May 1991.)