Just two weeks after a successful launch, the China-France Astronomy Satellite has completed its payload start-up tests and detected its first three gamma-ray bursts. The coordinates of these three gamma-ray bursts have been integrated into the international coordination network. This information was announced by the Chinese Academy of Sciences on July 8.
Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful cosmic explosions since the Big Bang. (Illustrative image: KT).
The China-France Astronomy Satellite project team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported that the China-France Astronomy Satellite was launched into space on June 22. After the gamma-ray detection and high-energy probes developed by the Institute of High Energy Physics were activated, they conducted orbital test explorations and detected the first gamma-ray burst on June 27.
Subsequently, on June 29 and July 2, the gamma-ray probe successfully identified the second and third gamma-ray bursts in the universe.
According to Chinese media, gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful cosmic explosions since the Big Bang, first discovered in 1967. These explosions can occur in a fraction of a second or last for several hours. The energy released in just a few seconds is equivalent to the total energy output of the sun over 10 billion years.
Chinese chief scientist for the China-France Astronomy Satellite, Wei Jianyan, stated that gamma-ray bursts originate from “the depths of the universe”, billions, even tens of billions of light-years away from Earth. Observing and studying these events will help humanity address issues in astrophysics and fundamental science, and is expected to reveal many more scientific mysteries about the birth of the universe.
It is known that the China-France Astronomy Satellite is an important international collaboration project between China and France in the field of space science. It is also the strongest multi-band composite observational satellite for gamma-ray bursts in the world to date.
