Integral - The Gamma Ray Burst

Gamma ray bursts pose one of the greatest mysteries of modern astronomy. About once per day, the sky above our heads lights up with a flash practically invisible to the naked eye but yet very spectacular: a burst of gamma rays. These are perhaps the most violent events in the universe but at present, we don't even know what causes them. This programme outlines how ESA's Integral gamma ray observatory will to be launched on 17 October 2002 will hunt for gamma rays. It includes recordings made at scientific institutes in Denmark and Switzerland. The programme comprises of an A-roll with split track and English commentary and is complemented by a B-Roll with clean international sound.

The video includes:

00:30 The Gamma Ray Bursts: Gamma ray bursts pose one of the greatest mysteries of modern astronomy. Animation and images of different flashes. Gammy ray burst are extremely distant and must be caused by tremendous explosions. Among the different possible hypnotises it could be caused by exceptional violent Hyper nova, or the merger of Neutron Stars or black holes . Very beautiful images.

01:45 Together with NASA’s gamma burst ray SWIFT spacecraft, to be launch in 2003, Integral will finally shed light on the gamma ray burst mystery .

01:54 Integral spacecraft illustration, of the instruments on Integral.

01:56 The Joint European X-Ray Monitor (JEM-X) is one of four instruments on ESA's INTEGRAL mission. It plays a crucial role in the detection and identification of the cosmic gamma-ray sources.

02:36 In Copenhagen at the Danish Space Research Institute, Niels Lund has been working on the JEM-X since the mid-nineties.

02:50 Niels Lund interview on why JEM-X is needed.

03:29 Explanation on how does JEM-X works.

03:43 Niels Lund continue explaining how JEM-X will work. He continues on some of the conditions in space for observation.

05:44 Some explanation on the loss of data.

05:55 The research centre for Integral is the Integral Scientific Data Centre (ISDC), Versoix, in Switzerland. The centre will be the interface between the Integral scientific data and the scientists and researchers worldwide.

06:30 Thierry Courvoisier, Head of Integral Science Data Centre, explains what will be observing by Integral.

07:30 Images of gamma ray bursts which could help understand the form and evolution of the universe.

07:58 Niels Lund explains why he is doing his work.

08:11 The end