11 Billion Year-Old Massive Gamma Ray Burst Recorded (2 to 3 times older than our planet)

news.softpedia.com ^ | 1-10-2010 | Staff

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

Helen Thompson may be the source of the emission. It’s common knowledge she is a very gassy person. In her youth some referred to her as “Toots” and they weren’t being sexist.

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Argggghhh - you just ruined my fantasy!

[allmendream]

Gamma rays ARE light, just outside the visible spectrum. Sheesh. Science education in this nation.

[theDentist]

Oh. Thanks. Obviously I need more bourbon.

[rednesss]

[TexasCajun]

Thank you for the sarcasm. Manners... Sheesh.

[Ken H]

Are there any animals that can sense light with a wavelength outside of the spectrum between infrared and ultraviolet?

[rednesss]

Yeah, but Arnuld took care of it.

[dr_lew]

Significant in this is that the age of the Universe might now be reported as 11 billion years.

Can anyone provide details on the measurement technique?

The age of the event was determined by associating it with an observable galaxy, whose distance is known from the redshift scale as originally calibrated by Hubble.

So the age is determined from the age scale of the universe itself, and does not represent an independent measure of that age.

[allmendream]

And the red shift scale was calibrated using measurement of paralax no doubt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax

[dr_lew]

It's the famous story of the Cepheid variables. These have a fixed relationship between period and intrinsic luminosity, and can be identified by spectral type. Parallax is used on the nearest of these in our own galaxy to establish the luminosity to distance scale. Then they are identified in nearby galaxies to establish the distance of those with the Cepheid luminosity to period relation on top of the luminosity to distance scale.

The furthest of these have a discernible red shift, and thus the red shift to distance scale can be established. Of course, this is the step that Hubble made.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Interesting ...Excerpt from the article:

*************************************EXCERPT******************************

Since the big stars live just a few tens of millions of years, the cloud of molecules that created them is still around them when they die.

The cloud was so dense around last June's burst that only 1 percent of the light from the burst was able to escape, NASA said.

The light of the gamma burst shining through the dust tells astronomers what that part of the universe was made out of back then, when the universe was just a youngster at 2.2 billion years old.

This was the first time astronomers were able to make an analysis of gas surrounding a gamma burst.

The Keck team quickly identified hydrogen and carbon monoxide, gases associated with star formation right here in the Milky Way galaxy.

But nearly half of the tell-tale absorption lines in the gamma burst light were unidentified, leaving lots of new discoveries waiting for the astronomers.

[Red Badger]

...half of the tell-tale absorption lines in the gamma burst light were unidentified...

Helenthomasium......

[adorno]

11 Billion Year-Old Massive Gamma Ray Burst Recorded (2 to 3 times older than our planet)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but...

If the gamma ray burst is something like 11 billion years old...

and the average lifespan of a star is something between 4 and 8 years (like our sun)...

then....

Wouldn't that then make our universe at least something between 15 and 19 billion years old? If 19, then, that would make the universe quite a bit older than what cosmologists have estimated in the past.

[Red Badger]

Si...........

[adorno]

Si...........

Well, thanks for clearing that up with your elaboration on the subject.

[Red Badger]

Gracias...........

[GeraldP]

>>>and the average lifespan of a star is something between 4 and 8 years (like our sun)...

Our sun is considered a small star, whereas gamma-ray-bursts are mostly result from the collapse of a much more massive star. Such a massive star has an accelerated life cycle when compared with a sun-mass star. A sun-like star’s life is measured in billions of years, but a massive star’s (the type that would emit GRBs) is measured in millions of years.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Ernest.

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The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes: Flood, Fire, and Famine in the History of Civilization by Richard Firestone, Allen West, and Simon Warwick-Smith

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[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Ernest_at_the_Beach.

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[Mike Darancette]

Gamma rays ARE light, just outside the visible spectrum. Sheesh. Science education in this nation.

WAY outside the visible spectrum. Sheese.