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Astrophysics

Most distant cosmic blast seen

The most distant γ-ray burst yet sighted is the earliest astronomical object ever observed in cosmic history. This ancient beacon offers a glimpse of the little-known cosmic dark ages.

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Figure 1: Redshift ladder.
Figure 2: The cosmic dark ages and GRB 090423.

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Zhang, B. Most distant cosmic blast seen. Nature 461, 1221–1223 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/4611221a

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