Gamma Ray Bursters
     IN THE HEART OF THE COLD WAR IN 1967 A GROUP OF SCIENTISTS WERE
MONITORING FOR SIGNS OF NUCLEAR TESTING WHEN THEIR INSTRUMENTS REGISTERED AN
EXPLOSION.

     Kouveliotou: "They got eploxplosions they realized were not coming form the
earth, but from the cosmos. . .this was completely new they had never seen something
like this before."

     AND THEY'VE BEEN A MYSTERY EVER SINCE, SAYS CHRYSSA KOUVELIOTOU.  SHE'S
AN ASTRONOMER AT NASA AND SHE SAYS THAT AFTER SPOTTING MORE THAN 2000 OF
THESE GAMMA RAY BURSTS, SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE FINALLY FIGURED OUT WHERE THEY
COME FROM.

     Kouveliotou: "We had a lot of theories over 150 of them. . .and the most popular
ones were contradictory. . .one said they do come form our own galaxy and the other
ones said they. . . are coming from the outer reaches of the universe."

     THE CONFUSION STEMMED FROM THE FACT THAT TELESCOPES ON EARTH WOULD
REGISTER EXPLOSIONS OF GAMMA RAYS, BUT COULDN'T PINPOINT THE EXACT LOCATION
IN THE SKY FROM WHICH THEY THEY CAME.  WHICH MEANS THAT OPTICAL TELESCOPES
COULDN'T ZERO INO N THE SPOT AND GET A GOOD LOOK AT WHAT WAS GOING ON.  IF
SCIENTISTS COULDN'T EXAMINE THE BURST WITH A VARIETY OF TELESCOPES THEY COULDN'T
TELL WHAT WAS CAUSING IT OR EVEN HOW FAR AWAY IT WAS.   THEN CAME BEPPOSAX--A
SATTELITE THAT COULD TRACK THE GAMM RAY BURSTS TO THEIR EXACT ORIGIN. 

     Kouveliotou: "The camera. . .can . . . identify the direction from where the burst is
coming with a very high accuracy.  Now this can happen very fast . . .then you can go
to the big optical telescopes and tell them point toward this direction and tell us what
you see."

     AND EARLY IN 1997, THEY DID JUST THAT.  TELESCOPES SPOTTED A GIANT FIREBALL
BILLIONS OF LIGHT YEARS AWAY, FAR OUTSIDE OUR OWN GALAXY.  NOW THAT IT'S BEEN
SHOWN THAT THESE OTHER-WORLDLY BURSTS ARE ALSO OTHER-GALACTIC THE NEXT STEP IS
TO FIGURE OUT WHAT CAUSES THEM.  ONE CURRENT THEORY IS IT'S THE REMNANT OF TWO
GIANT STARS MERGING TOGETHER.