Brightest Object

As bright as 10 million galaxies, a long-duration gamma ray burst named GRB 080319B was visible to the naked eye this past March even though it was a staggering 7.5 billion light-years away.

Afterglow of GRB 080319B imaged by the Swift satellite's X-ray telescope (left) and optical/ultraviolet Telescope (right). Image: NASA/Swift/Stefan Immler, et al.