Reuters - Jan. 8, 2008
GREENBELT, Md., Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Using the powerful one-two combo of NASA's Swift satellite and the Gemini Observatory, astronomers have detected a mysterious type of cosmic explosion farther back in time than ever before. The explosion, known as a short gamma-ray burst (GRB), took place 7.4 billion years ago, more than halfway back to the Big Bang.
"This discovery dramatically moves back the time at which we know short GRBs were exploding. The short burst is almost twice as far as the previous confirmed record holder," says John Graham of the Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Md. Graham is presenting his group's discovery on Tuesday in a poster at the American Astronomical Society's 2008 winter meeting in Austin, Texas.
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