Barely one month after gamma-ray astronomers mourned the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, which ceased operations after a planned crash through Earths tumultuous atmosphere, an exciting observation of gamma rays -- the universes most energetic form of radiation -- is giving astronomers plenty to rejoice about.

Working with the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope, a group of European astronomers recently released the first high-resolution images of a galaxy hosting a gamma-ray "burst," a powerful source of intense gamma-ray radiation. This important observation may give scientists new insights into the nature of the mysterious gamma-ray eruptions, including their ill-understood origins.

Using Hubbles Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, the astronomers made fine-toothed observations of the galaxy that hosts a powerful gamma-ray burst (GRB) numbered GRB 980425. Close to 20 gamma-ray host galaxies have been observed since the first was discovered in 1997. But thanks to its proximity to Earth, GRB 980425 has given scientists the best bang for their buck.

At a mere 140 million light-years away, scientists say this GRB is the closest ever detected. (Typical GRBs lie a daunting 2.5 billion light-years away.)

For years, astronomers have theorized about the possible relationship between gamma-ray bursts and supernovae. As one popular model proposes, when a massive star comes to the end of its life, its core collapses in on itself, creating a gargantuan explosion called a supernova. If the star core can muster enough energy, it eventually shrinks into a black hole, a region of space where the force of gravity is so enormous, even light cant escape it.

Gamma rays, the theory goes, are produced when packets of energy near a black hole come eerily close to being swallowed up. But instead of falling into the hole, this energy becomes accelerated to even higher-powered energy, and is flung out into space as gamma rays.

Over the past few years, astronomers have been busy analyzing a handful of supernovae that were spotted with accompanying gamma-ray bursts. But proof of these pairs common ancestry is sketchy, at best. This latest pairing, however, has provided scientists with an extra piece of evidence to support that its supernova, which is called 1998bw, did indeed come from the same source as GRB 980425.

This extra evidence came in the form of an X-ray glow, a common occurrence near black holes following a GRB. Using the European Space Agencys BeppoSAX space-based X-ray telescope, astronomers were able to pinpoint the exact location of this glow, and match it to the where Hubbles instruments had shown GRB 980425 to be.

"They were able to show that the gamma rays were coming not just from that general patch in the sky, but, within some precision, from the same location as supernova 1998bw," said Robert Kirshner, an astronomy professor at Harvard University. "Not everybody is completely convinced that this means they must be the same thing, but it makes you wonder."

Luckily, astronomers will soon get a second look at gamma-ray burst 980425 with the Hubble Space Telescope. After a bookkeeping "error" at the Space Telescope Science Institute (the organization which manages Hubbles use), two different science teams were awarded time to look at the same patch of sky thats home to GRB 980425 and the supernova 1998bw. "This could be a good thing," said Kirshner, "because if the supernova is fading away, then that would be a way to exactly identify" the relationship between the two events.

Future gamma-ray studies will also be enhanced by NASAs High Energy Transient Explorer (HETE) spacecraft -- a small satellite dedicated to gamma-ray bursts. HETE 2 is set to launch on July 20, 2000 aboard a Pegasus XL rocket from the Kwajalein Missile Range in the Marshall Islands.