| A big γ-ray burst at a redshift of z ≈ 8.2 (2009). A glimpse of the end of the dark ages: the γ-ray burst of 23 April 2009 at redshift 8.3 | |||||||||||||
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| 4 pages, 3 figures.-- ArXiv pre-print available at: http://arxiv.org/abs/0906.1577. Supporting information available at: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7268/suppinfo/nature08459.html. 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-alpha 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.. This work was partly based on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the US National Science Foundation on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (United Kingdom), the National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), the Australian Research Council (Australia), the Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia (Brazil) and SECYT (Argentina). The UKIRT is operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre on behalf of the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council. R.J.F. acknowledges a Clay Fellowship.. Peer reviewed | |||||||||||||
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