Astronomers claim star is universe’s oldest
Scientists say event opens path to understanding how the first galaxies were born.
Published On 26 May 2011
The star’s birth – an explosion that occurred just 520 million years after the ‘Big Bang’ makes the celestial body one of the earliest stars of the Universe.
The event known as a gamma ray burst – a sudden blast of intense light – was just detected by NASA’s Swift satellite in 2009 – implying that it took those light rays a record-breaking 13.14 billion years to reach earth.
Al Jazeera spoke to Dr Antonino Cucchiara to explain the phenomenon.
Source: Al Jazeera