Gamma view of a big blast

Astronomers have for the first time used extremely high-energy gamma rays to image a celestial body.

ENERGETIC IMAGE. The supernova remnant RXJ1713.7-3946, as imaged from extremely high-energy gamma rays. Hess Collaboration

Paula Chadwick of the University of Durham in England and her colleagues recorded flashes of blue light known as Cerenkov radiation, which is produced when Earth’s atmosphere stops incoming gamma rays.