GRB 090423
A dying star 630 million years in sends out a flash still detectable 13 billion years later.
- When
- Known to
- ± 10 million years
- Era
- Reionisation, Stelliferous
A gamma-ray burst at redshift 8.2, for a time the most distant object ever observed. It marks the collapse of a massive star into a black hole, and its light travelled for over 13 billion years before reaching Earth in April 2009. Bursts like it are momentary but so bright they can be seen across almost the entire observable universe, making them probes of an era otherwise beyond reach.