Gamma Rays

Gamma rays are the final type of radiation found on the electromagnetic spectrum. Gamma rays have the highest frequency and smallest wavelength of any radiation, and therefore also have the highest energy.

Gamma rays are powerful enough to penetrate most substances, and are powerful ionizers. The gamma ray spectrum involves wavelengths lower than one trillionth of a meter (less than .000000000001 meters).

This radiation is often produced as a byproduct of atomic decay, in which unstable atoms emit energy through gamma rays and other particles before settling to a stable state. Descriptions of some of these reactions can be found here.

Among the parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, gamma rays are comparatively rare. Few objects are powerful enough to give off high amounts of gamma ray energy. However, this radiation is very important on atomic scales, when atomic decay spontaneously converts mass into energetic photons, i.e. gamma rays. This is possible due to the well known mass-energy relation

E=mc^2

where E corresponds to energy, m to mass, and c a constant (the speed of light: 186282 miles per second). The meaning of this equation is that a certain amount of mass is equal to a certain amount of energy. During the early stages of the Universe, the temperature was sufficiently high that particles collided with their antiparticle counterparts. When they collide, they instantly annihilate each other, releasing energy. As energy, the reverse happened, with particles and antiparticles being spontaneously created. Now these reactions only take place in extreme conditions, such as on the edges of a black hole.

Despite this, astronomical gamma ray sources can still be found, and the closest is the Moon.



An image of the Moon taken by a gamma ray telescope. The gamma rays emitted from the Moon originate when other solar ionizing radiation, such as ultraviolet, hits the Moon and causes the excitation of heavy atoms, and this in turn, causes the emission of gamma rays. In contrast, the Sun is nearly invisible in the gamma ray spectrum, because it consists of very light atoms (mostly Hydrogen and Helium) that cannot be excited by ionizing radiation.

Other gamma ray sources include solar flares, the death of massive stars (through processes such as supernovae) and their remnants (neutron stars and black holes), as well as active galaxies. Galaxies are "active" if large amounts of infalling matter are feeding their central black hole, giving off enormous amounts of radiation. Most information on gamma ray bursts is theoretical, as little is actually known about their sources, and they usually are very distant.

Gamma ray bursts and their sources are some of the most fascinating areas of astronomy.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_ray, http://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/gamma.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Big_Bang, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass–energy_equivalence