Cosmic Dark Age

“The most distant object ever observed in space has provided scientists with an unprecedented insight into the ‘cosmic dark ages’ following the birth of the Universe some 13.7 billion years ago,” reports The Independent. “A gigantic explosion on the edge of the known Universe has been confirmed as the furthermost object in the cosmos. It occurred nearly 700 million years after the Big Bang and its radiation has taken some 13 billion years to reach Earth – making it 13 billion light years away…This particular gamma-ray burst, named 090423, occurred on 23 April and its afterglow lasted for about 10 seconds before it died out. This was long enough for the Swift satellite operated by Nasa to identify its location so that other telescopes on the ground could analyse the explosion in more detail.”