An extremely ancient and distant gamma-ray burst that apparently originated in the early days of the universe got spotted by astronomers.
The burst in question, designated as GRB210905A, was first detected by NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory in September 2021.
A team of astronomers led by Andrea Rossi from the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in Bologna then rushed to observe the aftermath of this event using several telescopes, including instruments of the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
According to a statement released by the ESO, the burst apparently originated from a galaxy far, far away, “when the universe was only 6 percent of its current age”, over ten billion years ago.
As for the burst's origin, Rossi’s team postulated that it was likely powered by material being pulled into a black hole, ESO noted.
While the origins of such events remain “a bit of a mystery”, ESO’s upcoming Extremely Large Telescope may help deal with this enigma as this instrument is expected to help study properties of such bursts in greater detail, the research organization stated.