![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090114074135im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/x.gif) News From the Field Astronomers Use Gamma-ray Burst to Probe Star Formation in the Early Universe
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090114074135im_/http://www.nsf.gov/images/greenlineshort.jpg)
January 6, 2009
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The brilliant afterglow of a powerful gamma-ray burst (GRB) has enabled astronomers to probe the star-forming environment of a distant galaxy, resulting in the first detection of molecular gas in a GRB host galaxy. By analyzing the spectrum of light emitted in the GRB afterglow, the researchers are gleaning insight into an active stellar nursery in a galaxy so far away it appears as it was 10 billion years ago.
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Source University of California, Santa Cruz
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