A gamma-ray burst at a redshift of z~8.2

Authors
  • 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
Publication date 2009
Journal Nature
Volume | Issue number 461 | 7268
Pages (from-to) 1254-1257
Organisations
  • Faculty of Science (FNWI) - Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy (API)
Abstract Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are thought to result from the explosions of certain massive stars(1), and some are bright enough that they should be observable out to redshifts of z > 20 using current technology(2-4). Hitherto, the highest redshift measured for any object was z = 6.96, for a Lyman-alpha emitting galaxy(5). Here we report that GRB 090423 lies at a redshift of z approximate to 8.2, implying that massive stars were being produced and dying as GRBs similar to 630 Myr after the Big Bang. The burst also pinpoints the location of its host galaxy.
Document type Article
Note DOI: 10.1038/nature08459; eprintid: arXiv:0906.1577
Language English
Published at https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08459
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