Most Distant Object in Universe Discovered

Posted on May 15, 2009

NASA's Swift satellite recently discovered the most distant object in the Universe. The object is the afterglow of a self-destructing star located 13.1 billion light years from Earth. The event, named GRB 090423, is the most distant cosmic explosion ever seen.

Swift lead scientist Neil Gehrels, says in a statement, "Swift was designed to catch these very distant bursts. The incredible distance to this burst exceeded our greatest expectations -- it was a true blast from the past."

Here's a video that shows a computer graphic animation of the distant object.

SPACE