ARE GAMMA-RAY BURSTERS IN OUR GALAXY

The possibility is considered that the intrinsic luminosity function o f gamma-ray bursters has sufficient scatter to dominate geometric effe cts in the apparent luminosity distribution. It is shown that the dist ribution of bursts on the sky would then be very granular, with a sign ificant fraction of them coming from the two or three nearest sources. Moreover, the intrinsic luminosity function that minimizes granularit y without producing significant disklike anisotropy yields a [V/V(max) ] that is larger than observed. Possible alternatives are briefly disc ussed.