NASA PHOTOGRAPH OF GAMMA RAY BURST, 1999-01-27 (photo)

U.S. and European scientists said on January 26 that they had caught their first ever "live" picture of a gamma-ray burst - powerful explosions from space that have mystified and intrigued astronomers for decades. An orbiting detector caught the burst on January 23 and, within seconds, signaled a computer that in turn woke up an observatory computer in New Mexico and caught the explosion on film, said John Horack, a NASA spokesman. A red and blue flash of light called a Red Sprite, is shown extending upward from an electrical thunderstorm in this NASA photograph. SV/RC