Light from an explosion more than half way across the universe has been detected by an internet amateur telescope that takes images for students and teachers free of charge.
The explosion, known as a gamma-ray burst, was photographed by the Seeing in the Dark Internet Telescope (SIDINT) in New Mexico on March 30. The SIDINT digital photos show the burst flaring up briefly and then fading from view within 4 hours
Astronomers studying the gamma-ray burst determined that its light traveled 8.4 billion light-years — more than half way across the radius of the observable universe — before reaching Earth. The light therefore was older than the Sun and Earth, which formed some 4.5 billion years ago.
Gamma-ray bursts are the most energetic events in the known universe. Astronomers remain uncertain about just how they are created, but one mechanism may be the collapse of a giant star to form a black hole, resulting in a titanic explosion that can spit out intense jets of gamma rays, X-rays, and visible light.
Full article: http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=6789
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