Most distant object ever seen… maybe

Most distant object ever seen… maybe

That is GRB 090429B, a gamma-ray burst (or just GRB to those who want to sound nerdcool), the catastrophic and extremely violent detonation of a massive star. Think of it as a super-supernova, the death throes of a star that lived a short, hot, turbulent life. I wrote about them extensively in my book "Death from the Skies!", or you can get the details about how they form and why they’re so awesome in an earlier post.

Its distance is estimated to be a whopping 13.04 billion light years. If this holds up, it may be the single most distant object ever seen by humans.

But is this really a record-breaker? And why aren’t we sure? OK, this takes a wee bit o’ explaining, but I think you’ll like it. After all, it’s an explosion so big it’ll crush your mind into dust.

The important thing here is that they are so bright — emitting more light in a few seconds than the Sun will over its entire lifetime — that they can be seen for tremendous distances. In fact, they can be detected from clear across the Universe, which is where GRB 090429B comes in.




http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/05/25/most-distant-object-ever-seen-maybe/

a truth told by a Repuke.

;-)

:shrug: