Map by Dr. Robert Mallozzi
This sky-map is in galactic coordinates, with the ten most recently observed gamma-ray bursts plotted in red. This map is updated every Sunday morning, plotting all bursts up to the previous Thursday.
The BATSE instrument was specifically designed to discover whether gamma-ray bursts are distributed in the galactic plane. Such a distribution would indicate that the bursts are a phenomenon of our own galaxy. However, within a year of the April 5, 1991 launch of the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, BATSE proved that bursts are not confined to the galactic plane, but that they are isotropically distributed.
BATSE observes approximately six gamma-ray bursts per week. The average statistical error for the gamma-ray burst positions in the 3B catalog of 1122 bursts is 4.7°, and the estimated systematic error is 1.6°. The patches of clustering and avoidance in the above map are statistically insignificant.
Headlines on Gamma-Ray Bursts:
The Current BATSE Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog is now available through the World Wide Web.
Check out the BATSE Pages - includes interactive access to the BATSE dataset, and information on the various teams researching BATSE data!