Photograph of a star exploding 12 billion light years from Earth

On March 6, Russian scientists from Irkutsk State University said they had taken "unique" photos of the explosion of the oldest star 12 billion light years from Earth.

The world's largest optical telescope, Gran Telescopio, has tracked a gamma-ray burst from the oldest star. (Source: www.panoramio.com)

According to scientists, the Swift Orbiting Observatory recorded the first cosmic gamma radiation wave on March 4, then the Master robotic telescope received the station's signal from the satellite, and 23 seconds later began taking pictures.

About eight hours later, the world's largest optical telescope, Gran Telescopio Canarias, mounted on the top of the Muchachos volcano on La Palma Island in the Canary Islands, also joined in monitoring the gamma-ray burst.

Using this telescope, scientists have calculated the distance from Earth to the exploding star to be 12 billion light years.

The estimated size of the visible star is 16.5, which is nearly 20,000 times smaller than the faintest star visible to the naked eye.

Scientists believe that this ancient star explosion occurred eight billion years before the Solar System and Earth appeared in the universe./.

According to VNA