The most distant gamma-ray burst has been discovered by the Astronomers. A star that detonated about 12.8 billion light years from earth is responsible for this cosmic explosion. 

According to the Newsceintist.com, “Telescopes around the world soon detected its afterglow at longer wavelengths, and the light spectrum they observed revealed its incredible distance: 12.8 billion light years away.” NASA’s Swift space observatory first detected the new record holder, called GRB 080913 on 13th September. 

Neil Gehrels of the Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, who is also the mission's lead scientist, informed, “This is the most amazing burst Swift has seen. It's coming to us from near the edge of the visible universe.”

The discovery of very distant GRBs has been long hoped by the Astronomers, since when they exploded, the universe was pretty young. Their light took billions of years to reach the earth and thus they are being seen now. The lives span of really ancient stars could be revealed by these ancient GRBs. 

After the big bang, GRB 080913 exploded in less than 825 million years. Patricia Schady of University College London, also a member of Swift team reported, “This burst accompanies the death of a star from one of the universe's early generations.”

Since Gamma rays don't penetrate earth's atmosphere they need to be viewed from space.