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

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

doi:10.1038/nature08459

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

Nature. 2009 Oct 29;461(7268):1254-7. doi: 10.1038/nature08459.

Authors

N R Tanvir¹, 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

Affiliation

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. nrt3@star.le.ac.uk

PMID: 19865165
DOI: 10.1038/nature08459

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.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't