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dying The Oldest Object

hen specialized sat- “within a few hundred million years.” ellites orbiting Further research using gamma-ray bursts detect a explod- may eventually pinpoint the moment ing anywhere in the when began to form. Wuniverse, Edo Berger gets an alert on his Cosmic explosions emit jets of gamma cell phone. At 3:55 a.m. on April 23, the rays, a more energetic form of light even assistant professor of astronomy learned than x-rays (see the artist’s conception, of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) from a star below). But gamma rays don’t tell any- almost as old as time itself. GRB 090423, thing about the distance to an object, so which exploded more than 13 billion years when Berger first learned of the gamma- ago, at a time when the was just ray burst, he asked the Gemini Observa- 625 million years old, is the oldest object tory in Hilo, , to train its Tomorrow’s healthcare yet discovered. The find was significant, on the dying star. leaders will need a broad he says, because it proved that stars began The fact that there was plenty of infra- forming very quickly after the : red light, but no visible light, coming from perspective and solid the explosion was “a smoking gun”: he management skills. knew at once that he had found an ancient star. That’s because the early

NSF O bservatory/ universe was filled with gas Yale MBA for Executives: opaque to visible light. Later, as stars Leadership in Healthcare offers: formed, their radiation ionized the • Rigorous MBA curriculum hydrogen, creating clear pockets that integrated with focus on G emini U niversity/ transformed the universe into some- healthcare thing that Berger says resembled Swiss cheese, before eventually reaching its • Experienced students from present, essentially transparent state. across the industry sharing The fading arvard H arvard U niversity/ afterglow of the Because all the visible light from the professional perspectives tate tate oldest object ever S star’s explosion had been absorbed by • Small class size, individual

seen: a one- to P enn hydrogen gas, Berger knew the light had interaction with Yale 10-million-year-old begun its journey in the early universe; star that exploded distinguished faculty and visiting infrared observations confirmed that he more than 13 industry leaders billion years ago. was looking 95 percent of the way back to the beginning of time. • Executive twice a month format A ) In the next five years, Berger hopes to that lets you continue your pinpoint the period when the universe career while earning your degree guilar ( C f A

. A . shifted from opaque to clear and also, avid avid D by using more detailed observations, Think about your future. to learn something about when major Think about Yale. chemical elements such as iron, oxygen, and magnesium first began to appear. “We know this process began even ear- lier,” he says, “because in this particu- lar case, 625 million years after the big bang, we already see stars, and they are Gas jets punch out already dying.” vjonathan shaw of the collapsing star and blast into space, producing gamma edo berger e-mail address: rays that can be [email protected] detected billions of gemini telescope website: light years away. mba.yale.edu/mba-e www.gemini.edu/furthestgrb 203.432.4649

Harvard Magazine 11 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746