GRB 050904

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GRB 050904

Event type	Gamma-ray burst
Constellation	Pisces
Redshift	6.295 ±0.002
Other designations	GRB 050904
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GRB 050904 is one of the most distant events ever observed, as of 2005. This gamma ray burst (GRB) occurred in the constellation Pisces. The bright γ-ray flash, lasting about 200 seconds, was detected on September 4, 2005 by the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission. The GRB has a redshift of z=6.295. Such a high redshift means that the burst happened nearly 13 billion years ago. Therefore, the GRB exploded when the Universe was an infant (890 million years old according to the most recent estimates), about 6% of its current age. By comparison, the most distant galaxy and the most distant quasar ever observed, as of 2005, had a redshift of 6.96 and 6.43, respectively.

Three different groups of researchers, led by Giancarlo Cusumano, Joshua Haislip, and Nobuyuki Kawai respectively, carried out the investigation of the phenomenon and presented their results in Nature magazine on March 9, 2006.

• GRB 080913
• GRB 090423

• Most distant explosion detected, smashes previous record (SWIFT @ Goddard, NASA)
• Star Death Beacon at the Edge of the Universe (ESO Press Release)
• Most Distant Explosion Detected, Smashes Previous Record Archived 2017-05-31 at the Wayback Machine (NASA)
• Swift Newsletter Archived 2007-08-10 at the Wayback Machine
• Scientists Piece Together the Most Distant Cosmic Explosion