A γ-ray burst at a redshift of zåisebox-0.5ex 8.2

Journal article
Venue Nature Date October 2009 DOI 10.1038/nature08459
N. R. Tanvir, D. B. Fox, A. J. Levan, E. Berger, K. Wiersema, J. P. U. Fynbo, A. Cucchiara, T. Krühler, N. Gehrels, J. S. Bloom … +53 moreShow fewer
N. R. Tanvir, D. B. Fox, A. J. Levan, E. Berger, K. Wiersema, J. P. U. Fynbo, A. Cucchiara, T. Krühler, N. Gehrels, J. S. Bloom, J. Greiner, P. A. Evans, E. Rol, F. Olivares, J. Hjorth, P. Jakobsson, J. Farihi, R. Willingale, R. L. C. Starling, S. B. Cenko, D. Perley, J. R. Maund, J. Duke, R. A. M. J. Wijers, A. J. Adamson, A. Allan, M. N. Bremer, D. N. Burrows, A. J. Castro-Tirado, B. Cavanagh, A. de Ugarte Postigo, M. A. Dopita, T. A. Fatkhullin, A. S. Fruchter, R. J. Foley, J. Gorosabel, J. Kennea, T. Kerr, S. Klose, H. A. Krimm, V. N. Komarova, S. R. Kulkarni, A. S. Moskvitin, C. G. Mundell, T. Naylor, K. Page, B. E. Penprase, M. Perri, P. Podsiadlowski, K. Roth, R. E. Rutledge, T. Sakamoto, P. Schady, B. P. Schmidt, A. M. Soderberg, J. Sollerman, A. W. Stephens, G. Stratta, T. N. Ukwatta, D. Watson, E. Westra, T. Wold, C. Wolf

Abstract

Long-duration γ-ray bursts (GRBs) are thought to result from the explosions of certain massive stars, and some are bright enough that they should be observable out to redshifts of z>20 using current technology. Hitherto, the highest redshift measured for any object was z = 6.96, for a Lyman-α emitting galaxy. Here we report that GRB090423 lies at a redshift of zåisebox-0.5ex 8.2, implying that massive stars were being produced and dying as GRBs i̊sebox-0.5ex 630Myr after the Big Bang. The burst also pinpoints the location of its host galaxy.

Astrophysics - Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

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