Gamma Ray Burst
Astronomers believe that the gamma-ray burst observed on September 4, 2005, may have originated with the explosion of a star that lived and died some 13 billion years ago, not long after the Big Bang brought the universe itself into being. This particular star was a hulking specimen that had at least 30 times the mass of our own Sun, which made it quite a bit bigger than almost any star that exists today. Nonetheless, it was destined for a very short life. Because of the star's huge mass, gravity caused the hydrogen gas in its core to become extraordinarily hot and dense, which in turn made the thermonuclear reactions there extraordinarily fierce. Soon, all the hydrogen in the core had been converted to helium. Then, when the helium "ash" became dense enough and hot enough, it, too, ignited to form elements such as carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. Indeed, this cycle was repeated again and again, until the interior of the star acquired a kind of onion structure. First there was an outer shell where hydrogen was fusing into helium. Then inside that, there was a shell where helium was burning. Then came shells for carbon, oxygen and nitrogen; silicon; and magnesium and neon. And finally, at the very center, there was a core of iron nuclei - the ash from all the layers of thermonuclear fusion above it.
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