{"page":"\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n\nVideo\n
\n

\nNASA | Swift Finds Most Distant Gamma-ray Burst Yet\n

\n
\n
\nGet Free Access for 10 Days!\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
×
\n\n\n
\n\nPublisher:\n\nNASA\n\n\n
\n
\nOn April 29, 2009, a five-second-long burst of gamma rays from the constellation Canes Venatici triggered the Burst Alert Telescope on NASA's Swift satellite. As with most gamma-ray bursts, this one -- now designated GRB 090429B --...\nOn April 29, 2009, a five-second-long burst of gamma rays from the constellation Canes Venatici triggered the Burst Alert Telescope on NASA's Swift satellite. As with most gamma-ray bursts, this one -- now designated GRB 090429B -- heralded the death of a star some 30 times the sun's mass and the likely birth of a new black hole.
\"What's important about this event isn't so much the 'what' but the 'where,'\" said Neil Gehrels, lead scientist for Swift at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. \"GRB 090429B exploded at the cosmic frontier, among some of the earliest stars to form in our universe.\"
Because light moves at finite speed, looking farther into the universe means looking back in time. GRB 090429B gives astronomers a glimpse of the universe as it appeared some 520 million years after the universe began.
Now, after two years of painstaking analysis, astronomers studying the afterglow of the explosion say they're confident that the blast was the farthest explosion yet identified -- and at a distance of 13.14 billion light-years, a contender for the most distant object now known.
Swift's discoveries continue to push the cosmic frontier deeper back in time. A gamma-ray burst detected on Sept. 4, 2005, was shown to be lie 12.77 billion light-years away. Until the new study dethroned it, GRB 090423, which was detected just six days before the current record-holder, reigned a distance of about 13.04 billion light-years. All of these gamma-ray bursts were among the first 500 detected by Swift.


\n
\n
\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Resource Details

\n
\n
\n
\n
Curator Rating
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Educator Rating
Not yet Rated
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Media Length
\n
1:04
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Grade
3rd - 11th
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Subjects
All Subjects
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Media Type
Instructional Videos
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Source:
\n
\nNASA Goddard\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Date
\n
2011
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n\n
Language
English
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Audiences
For Teacher Use
2 more...
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Usage Permissions
Fine Print: Educational Use
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Additional Materials

\n
\n\nSign in or Join Now
\" data-title=\"Get Full Access\" data-container=\"body\" rel=\"popover\" tabindex=\"0\" href=\"/subscription/new\">Video Preview\n
\n
\n
\n

Concepts

\n
\n
space, nasa
\n
\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Additional Tags

\n
\n
scott wiessinger, swift, farthest, gamma ray, flash, nasa goddard, telescope, satellite, constellation
\n
\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Classroom Considerations

\n
Video is ad-free
\n
\n
\n

Educator Ratings

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n\nShow resource details\n
\n
\n\" data-title=\"Get Full Access\" data-container=\"body\" rel=\"popover\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"Play video: NASA | Swift Finds Most Distant Gamma-ray Burst Yet\" href=\"/subscription/new\">\"NASA\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n\n\n"}