Scientist see star explode from 13 billion years ago

Gamma Ray Bursts, the most intense frequency of light are the source of much intrigue in the physics and astronomy community. This form of light is generally emitted when very violent processes occur in our universe. It is emitted when supernovae collapse into black holes through the absorption of matter by the black hole that is then converted into energy and shot out in jet streams along the axis of rotation of the black hole. It is also emitted when neutron stars collide, and by white dwarf stars, along with several other events. No gamma ray bursts have been observed in our galaxy and most are seen coming from very distant objects. Gamma ray bursts are believed to occur between every 100,000 to 1,000,000 years.

The gamma ray bursts within the Milky-Way galaxy that are pointed at Earth and strike the Earth's atmosphere have been a proposed cause of mass extinction. If a gamma ray burst were to strike Earth's atmosphere, the intensity would cause the photodissociation of Nitrogen in the atmosphere which would form nitric oxide thus contributing to the destruction of ozone.

Conversely, gamma ray bursts are interesting for other, less violent purposes. On Thursday, April 30, Edo Berger was notified that a gamma ray burst was detected by satellites. The explosion causing it was from a star that is up to 100 times larger than the sun. According to Berger's webpage he is an assistant professor at Harvard University and received his Ph.D. from Cal-Tech. He conducts research on multi-wavelength gamma ray bursts and their host galaxies, as well as the collapse of supernovae. According to Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, he was the leading member of the team that was able to first explain the origins of the gamma ray burst. "I have been chasing gamma-ray bursts for a decade, trying to find such a spectacular event," said Edo Berger. "We now have the first direct proof that the young universe was teeming with exploding stars and newly-born black holes only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang."

In his recent exciting discovery of the star's death, the observed blast allowed scientists to see a unique event that may help formulate more accurate theories on how the history of the universe has transpired. The star that was observed is unique in physical properties, but even more so in temporal. The star that emitted the observed gamma ray burst was over 13 billion years old, the oldest object ever to be observed in the universe by humans. The star, labeled GRB 090423, exploded only about 600 million years after the big bang, about 95 percent of the way back in time to the creation of the universe. It is 200 million years older than the previous oldest observed object in the universe. According to Berger in an interview with CNN, scientists suspected that massive stars like this one formed very soon after the big bang and now they have proof of the prediction. This new observation will allow for them to construct a more accurate model of galactic evolution. "We suspected that, but now we have proof. Now that we know these objects are so bright, in the next few years we should be able to pinpoint exactly at what stage in the evolution of the universe stars and galaxies formed," said Berger.