Black Holes - A "Collapsar" Animation (2004)

The collapse of the core of a massive star to form a black hole is one of the possible causes of a GRB. Hundreds of thousands to a million years prior to the explosion, this very massive star started running out of fuel and let loose much of its outer envelope, or lost the envelope to a companion star. The star then rapidly depleted its remaining central fuel causing the core to lose radiation pressure and collapse. Surrounded by a disk of accreting matter, a black hole formed inside. Within a few seconds, streaming particle jets were launched along the rotation axis. The jets, combined with vigorous winds of newly formed radioactive metals blowing off the disk inside, shattered the star. The jet passed through the outer shells of the star and combined with the vigorous winds of newly forged radioactive metals blowing off the disk inside, gave rise to the supernova event. Collisions among the pieces of the jet moving at different velocities, far from the explosion and moving close to light speed, created the GRB, which can only be seen if the jet was pointed at us. What is amazing is that the engine that made the jets that created the gamma ray burst, was no larger than the Washington D.C. area. Credit: NASA