GRB 090429B

astronomy

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July 19, 2026

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GRB 090429B was a gamma-ray burst (GRB) detected on April 29, 2009, by the Swift satellite observatory. GRBs are intense, non-repeating flashes of high-energy gamma rays that originate from extremely distant objects, exploding about 13 billion light-years from Earth. These powerful events, first discovered in the 1960s, were once a mystery but are now understood to be among the most distant objects in the universe. They are thought to result from collapsing hypergiant stars or merging neutron stars. The Swift satellite is designed to quickly orient itself to capture the initial moments of a GRB, allowing for follow-up observations with X-ray and optical telescopes to pinpoint their exact locations.12

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Swift
The most distant of these, GRB 090429B, detected on April 29, 2009, exploded about 13 billion light-years from Earth. One event, GRB 080319B, detected on March 19, 2008, was so powerful that it could have been observed with the naked eye, even though it was 7.5 billion light-years away. Swift…
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The most distant of these, GRB 090429B, detected on April 29, 2009, exploded about 13 billion light-years from Earth. One event, GRB 080319B, detected on March 19, 2008, was so powerful that it could have been observed with the naked eye, even though it was 7.5 billion light-years away. Swift…
Read More