Gamma-ray burst in the early universe, X-shooter image

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Gamma-ray burst (GRB, red spot) in the early universe, X-shooter image. This is one of the most luminous phenomena in the universe. Once the initial bright flash of a GRB has died down, the afterglow shines at longer wavelengths such as visible or infrared light which astronomers must quickly probe before they fade. They discovered that this burst originated from an extremely distant galaxy, when the universe was only 6 percent of its current age. Researchers suggest that this GRB was likely fuelled by material falling into a black hole due to its high energy output. Image obtained by the X-shooter instrument, a component of the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT).

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Size: 2960px × 2957px
Location:
Photo credit: © A. Rossi et al./EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -, -shooter, 210905a, afterglow, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, background, black, burst, cosmological, cosmology, early, eso, european, gamma, gamma-ray, grb, grbs, large, microscopium, observation, observatory, ray, rays, southern, space, telescope, universe, vlt