{{Short description|Short duration gamma-ray burst source in constellation Coma Berenices}} {{Infobox astronomical event | ra = {{RA|12|36|13.9}} | dec = {{DEC|+28|59|01}} | caption = Artist impression of a [[gamma-ray burst]] }}
[[File:GRB050509BLocation.png|thumb|left|The location of GRB 050509B (circled in blue)]] '''GRB 050509B''' was a [[gamma-ray burst]] (GRB) observed by the [[Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission|NASA Swift satellite]] on May 9, 2005. It was the first short duration GRB for which an accurate positional measurement was made, accurate enough to locate it near to an [[elliptical galaxy]] lying at a [[redshift]] of 0.225.
The significance of this finding is that it lends support to the theory that short bursts are formed during the catastrophic merger of two [[neutron star]]s, or a neutron star and a [[black hole]]. The [[orbital decay]] (via gravitational radiation) of stellar binaries consisting of these exotic compact objects is believed to take hundreds of millions of years, hence gamma ray bursts produced this way would be expected to be in old (misleadingly called "early type") galaxies. In contrast, long-duration gamma ray bursts, which are believed to result from the collapse of a single massive star, are expected to be located preferentially in young galaxies.
{{-}} ==References== * {{cite news | author=David Whitehouse | title=Blast hints at black hole birth | url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4537905.stm | work=BBC News | date=11 May 2005 | access-date=12 July 2011}}
{{Coma Berenices|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:GRB 050509B}} [[Category:Short-duration gamma-ray bursts|050509B]] [[Category:Astronomical objects discovered in 2005|20050509]] [[Category:May 2005]] [[Category:Coma Berenices]]