GRB Fireball Persists
			
		
		
		
			It's still there.  The 
optical counterpart 
to the instantly famous 
gamma-ray burst (GRB) that 
occurred last February 28th 
has faded - but not completely.  The 
astronomical community 
had waited patiently for months for the 
Earth to proceed far enough along in its 
orbit so that the 
Sun's glare no longer 
ruined inspection of the location of this historic flash.  The 
above 
picture of 
GRB 970228, taken September 5th and 
released just yesterday, shows an 
extended structure in the center that hasn't changed.  
However, the arrow indicates a 
point on the upper right 
that is now 
five times dimmer than in preceding months.  This 
fading point fits a model where the GRB originated in a fireball across the universe.  
The constant brightness of the extended feature indicates 
that it is not reflected emission from the GRB and might be the 
host galaxy.  Even so, the great GRB mystery is not yet over: 
for one thing, 
how come other GRBs don't appear to occur in galactic hosts?