1. A gamma-ray burst at a redshift of z approximately 8.2
- Author
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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, and C, Wolf
- Subjects
Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics - Abstract
Long-duration gamma-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-alpha emitting galaxy. Here we report that GRB 090423 lies at a redshift of z approximately 8.2, implying that massive stars were being produced and dying as GRBs approximately 630 Myr after the Big Bang. The burst also pinpoints the location of its host galaxy.
- Published
- 2009