A GRB Host?
			
		
		
		
			Where do 
gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) originate?  The most powerful 
explosions in the universe have 
recently been located with record accuracy.  
But do GRBs occur in galaxies or out alone in deep space?  
This picture 
taken with the 
Hubble 
Space Telescope of the field surrounding 
GRB 970228 might provide a clue.  
It appears to show an extended structure to the lower right of the 
GRB, which is identified with an arrow. 
Many astronomers speculate that this extended structure is a 
distant galaxy, as its colors and subsequent 
steady emission indicate.  Other astronomers worry that the extended 
emission is variable and so cannot be a galaxy.  Astronomers hoping for 
more cases to study were rewarded just last Monday with a new, well-located event: 
GRB 970616.  The location of this burst was determined by an unprecedented 
collaboration involving the tandem use of NASA satellites 
Compton, 
Ulysses and 
Rossi.