Figure 2
Fading optical afterglow
The optical afterglow from a gamma-ray burst fades so rapidly that it is hard to detect. These three photos show (from left to right) how the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst that was detected on 19 May 1998 changes with time. The afterglow -- the blue source in the centre of the field ? is almost indistinguishable from stars in the foreground. It was pinpointed through its variability by Andreas Jaunsen and one of us (JH) using the 2.5 m Nordic Optical Telescope on the island of La Palma, Spain. The pictures were taken 13, 15 and 17 hours after the burst.