| ING Media Archival Record |
| ITEM REFERENCE | 1816 |
| PERMANENT LINK | https://astro.ing.iac.es/outreach/?1816 |
| EXTACCESS | yes |
| COLLECTION | Image archive |
| TITLE | The WHT Deep Field. |
| KEYWORDS | Distant universe;Distant universe |
| DATE | 1997-02-28 |
| DESCRIPTION | On February 28, 1997 the William Herschel telescope took the first image of the optical counterpart of a gamma-ray burst (GRB), marked OT - Optical Transient - on the picture (M dwarf is a dwarf star of type M). This point of light is probably the most powerful explosion mankind has ever witnessed. GRBs were discovered in the early seventies and their origin had remained unsolved since then. Thanks to this picture, and later investigations, we now know that these explosions take place outside our Galaxy. Nevertheless fundamental questions such as the origin of the events, the source of energy, the triggering mechanism and the radiation processes still remain to be determined. Discovery V band images of the first optical counterpart (GRB 970228). The image on the left shows the transient on February 28, 1997 as observed by the WHT. The image on the right shows the transient on March 8, 1997 as observed by the INT. The optical transient is denoted by OT. A late-type star is also indicated. |
| CREDIT | J van Paradijs (University of Amsterdam) |
| TELESCOPE | WHT |
| INSTRUMENT | AUXCAM |
| RELATED URL | https://www.ing.iac.es/PR/press/Press_Release_ING397.html |
| THUMB_75 | 
https://www.ing.iac.es/PR/science/grb_s.jpg |
| AVAILABLE FILES | JPG (135K) 841×475 pixels |
| TIMESTAMP | 2024-08-25 22:40:46 |
| USAGE | For publication or display (electronic or otherwise), all photos, images or videos must be credited: "Photo/image/video courtesy of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, La Palma" unless otherwise noted in the provided credit line. Please contact ING's Public Relations Officer (outreach  ing.iac.es) with all the details of the use. |
