A γ-ray burst at a redshift of ≈ 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. CenkoD. 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

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    558 Citations (Scopus)

    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 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.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1254-1257
    Number of pages4
    JournalNature
    Volume461
    Issue number7268
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 29 Oct 2009

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