Huge 12 billion-year-old explosion in space is spotted from Earth - and it could reveal secrets of the early universe

Huge 12 billion-year-old explosion in space is spotted from Earth - and it could reveal secrets of the early universe

Astronomers using a telescope in Texas (bottom right) have spotted a gamma-ray burst (left). The rare explosion 12.1 light years away was caused by a supernova. Gamma-ray bursts release more energy in seconds (top right) than the sun in its entire 10 billion-year lifetime. Only a handful are thought to happen in a galaxy every few million years.