Last Thursday the ESO's (European Organisation for Astronomical Research) Very Large Telescope identified a faint gamma-ray burst as the signature of a star exploding 13 billion years ago, making it the earliest and most distant object known in the Universe.
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are powerful flashes of energetic gamma-rays lasting from less than a second to several minutes. They release huge amounts of energy in this short time making them the most powerful events in the Universe. They are thought to be mostly associated with the explosion of stars that collapse into black holes.
Because light moves at a finite speed, looking farther into the Universe means looking back in time. The explosion occurred just 600 million years after the big bang. It is believed that the very first stars only formed when the Universe was between 200 and 400 million years old.
Studying more GRB's like this one will help scientists learn more about what the early universe was like and how it came about it the first place.
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2 comments:
Have astronomers seen the evidence of ancient exploding stars before?
Yes, they have looked at similar Gamma-ray bursts in the past, but this exploding star is the oldest and the furthest away they have ever seen.
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