A γ-ray burst at a redshift of z ≈ 8.2

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

A γ-ray burst at a redshift of z ≈ 8.2

journal contribution

posted on 2025-07-30, 21:50 authored by N.R. Tanvir, D.B. Fox, A.J. Levan, E. Berger, K. Wiersema, J.P.U. Fynbo, A. Cucchiara, T. Kruehler, 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, Alasdair 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, Tim 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

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 GRB 090423 lies at a redshift of z ≈ 8.2, implying that massive stars were being produced and dying as GRBs ∼630 Myr after the Big Bang. The burst also pinpoints the location of its host galaxy.

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Notes

External DOI

https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08459

Journal

Nature

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Language

en

Citation

Vol. 461 (7268), pp. 1254 - 1257

Department

Physics and Astronomy

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