Record explosion: NASA Swift finds really old 'blast from past'

William Atkins
Tuesday, 28 April 2009 20:30

Science - Space

A gamma-ray burst (GRB) called GRB 090423 has been detected to have exploded when the Universe was only 630 million years ago—the oldest object so far detected by humans.


That explosion would be occurred approximately 13.1 billion years ago, assuming the Universe is now about 13.7 billion years of age.

NASA announced on Tuesday, April 28, 2009, that its Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission (Swift) satellite detected GRB 090423 as the “most distant cosmic explosion ever seen.” [NASA: “New Gamma-Ray Burst Smashes Cosmic Distance Record”]

Images of the GRB 090423 explosion are also found on this NASA website. GRBs are the most powerful explosions known to occur in the Universe; that is, since the Big Bang explosion, which created the Universe.

NASA Goddard space Flight Center scientist Neil Gehrels, who is the lead scientist for the Swift mission, stated, "Swift was designed to catch these very distant bursts. The incredible distance to this burst exceeded our greatest expectations -- it was a true blast from the past." [NASA]

According to Swift scientists, the Swift spacecraft detected GRB 090423 at 7:55:19 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), 3:55:19 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on April 23, 2009. The burst of x-ray radiation that it saw lasted about ten seconds.

Dr. Derek Fox (Pennsylvania State University) stated, "The burst most likely arose from the explosion of a massive star. We're seeing the demise of a star -- and probably the birth of a black hole -- in one of the universe's earliest stellar generations." [NASA]

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