gamma ray
nounDefinition of gamma ray
: a photon emitted spontaneously by a radioactive substance
also
: a photon of higher energy than that of an X-ray
Examples of gamma ray in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Spitzer detects infrared light, Hubble captures visible and UV light, Compton was designed for gamma rays, and Chandra sees X-rays. — Ashley Strickland, CNN, "Like Mercury, a nearby 'lava world' is probably lacking an atmosphere," 19 Aug. 2019 These cosmic rays tend to be gamma rays generated by the fusion reactions in the sun. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "Secret Room in Great Pyramid Discovered Thanks to Cosmic Rays From the Sun," 2 Nov. 2017 Spitzer detects infrared light, while Hubble captures visible and UV light, Compton was designed for gamma rays and Chandra sees X-rays. — Ashley Strickland, CNN, "This sideways galaxy looks just like a lightsaber," 9 Aug. 2019 The resulting gamma rays could fuel a fusion reaction that then propels the spacecraft. — Sarah Scoles, Scientific American, "The Good Kind of Crazy: The Quest for Exotic Propulsion," 29 July 2019 Yet dark matter wasn’t the only thing that could be generating the excess gamma rays. — Quanta Magazine, "Dark Matter Gets a Reprieve in New Analysis," 29 Apr. 2019 That alignment could have just been coincidence, but then other observatories reported a surge in energetic gamma rays coming from the same black hole around the same time as the neutrino’s arrival. — Bill Andrews, Discover Magazine, "State of Science: Neutrinos Provide a New Way to Probe the Cosmos," 1 Jan. 2019 The overwhelming likelihood is that the black hole spewed out both the gamma rays and massive amounts of neutrinos, including the one IceCube caught. — Bill Andrews, Discover Magazine, "State of Science: Neutrinos Provide a New Way to Probe the Cosmos," 1 Jan. 2019 The collision created the first observed instance of a single source emitting ripples in space-time, known as gravitational waves, as well as light, which was released in the form of a 2-second gamma ray burst. — Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, "NASA captures stunning photo of the entire sky in X-ray," 3 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gamma ray.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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