Cosmic Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), the most powerful explosions in the universe, have the extreme brilliance of a billion billion Suns and occur several times a day -- But very little is known about them. Two types of Gamma Ray Bursts have been observed 1) Long ones that last for tens or hundreds of seconds, and 2) Short bursts, which last a few milliseconds to a second. Long bursts are believed to result from the death of massive stars only a few million years old in young and vigorously star forming galaxies. Short Gamma Ray Bursts, until now shrouded in mystery, are being linked through recent research to the collision of two neutron stars, or a neutron star and a black hole. The objects slowly approach each other as their orbits shrink over hundreds of millions of years. Eventually, the two objects get so close together that they simply shred each other apart in a cataclysmic explosion.