Works in Progress: Gamma Ray Bursts

Ground-based telescopes paint a relatively tame picture of the cosmos. Earth's atmosphere and ionosphere screen out all forms of radiation except visible light, radio waves, and infrared signals. So, until the advent of satellites half a century ago, astronomers never captured the high-frequency wavelengths that issue from the most energetic explosions in space. "We were peeking out of this tiny little crack in the spectrum," says astrophysicist Donald Lamb of the University of Chicago. "Then, in the space age, the door swung wide open, and we went, 'Wow.'"