GROND image of the gamma-ray burst GRB 151027B

On 27 October 2015, at 22:40 GMT, the NASA/ASI/UKSA Swift satellite discovered its 1000th gamma-ray burst (GRB). This landmark event was subsequently observed and characterised by ESO telescopes at the La Silla Paranal Observatory in northern Chile, which revealed that this GRB was an especially interesting object.

This picture shows the optical and infrared afterglow of this object, captured by the GROND system on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory. The GRB is the faint star-like point at the centre of the picture. Whilst just a tiny dot in the image, the GRB is in fact vastly more distant than any other object seen in the picture.