ESA Science & Technology - Optical counterpart of the gamma-ray burst detected by Ulysses, Mars Odyssey and BeppoSAX

This optical image, taken with the National Science Foundation's Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile during the morning of 23 November 2001, shows the optical transient a day and a half after the initial burst. The transient had faded in brightness from its peak by more than a factor of 100 in that period of time. The reddish dot adjoining the gamma-ray burst, at its lower left, is probably the core of the galaxy in which the gamma-ray burst occurred.

M. Brown, R. Schommer, K. Olsen, B. Jannuzi, A. Dey (NOAO), A. Fruchter, J. Rhoads (STSci) AURA/NSF