The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes

Hello One and All,
This posting just came in from another forum hosted by yahoo devote to the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke:

See
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080321-distant-explosion.html

A powerful stellar explosion that has shattered the record for the
most distant object visible to the naked eye was detected by NASA's
Swift satellite on Wednesday.

The explosion, known as a gamma-ray burst, also ranks as the most
intrinsically bright object in the universe ever observed by humans.

"It's amazing we've been waiting for a flash this bright from a
gamma-ray burst ever since Swift began observing the sky three years
ago, and now we've got one that is so bright that it was visible to
the naked eye even though its source is half-way across the
universe," said David Burrows of Penn State University, who directs
the continuing operation of Swift's X-ray telescope and the analysis
of the data it collects.

The burst was detected by Swift at 2:12 EDT on March 19 and was
one of five gamma-ray bursts detected that day, the same day that
famed science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke died.

"Coincidentally, the passing of Arthur C. Clarke seems to have set
the universe ablaze with gamma-ray bursts," said Swift science team
member Judith Racusin, a Penn State graduate student.
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When beggars die there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes."