The data was gathered by Nasa's Swift satellite, which is able to both locate and point at gamma ray bursts (GRBs) far quicker than any other telescope.

By using its Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) the astronomers were able to obtain an ultraviolet spectrum of a GRB just 251 seconds after its onset - the earliest ever captured.

Further use of the instrument in this way will allow them to calculate the distance and brightness of GRBs within a few hundred seconds of their initial outburst, and gather new information about the causes of bursts and the galaxies they originate from.

It is currently thought that some GRBs are caused by immense explosions following the collapse of the core of a rapidly rotating, high-mass star into a black hole, but there are still many mysteries surrounding them.

Professor Keith Mason, Chief Executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, said: "This is an amazing first for the UVOT instrument and an exciting new development in the study of these most violent and energetic explosions. Thanks to the hard work of our UK scientists at MSSL, and their partners, we can now gather far more information about gamma ray bursts and the early Universe."

Since its launch in 2004, the Swift satellite has provided the most comprehensive study so far of GRBs and their afterglows. Using the UVOT to obtain ultraviolet spectrums, the Swift team will be able to build on this study and even determine more about the host galaxies' chemistry.

Paul Kuin said, "The new spectrum has not only allowed us to determine the distance of the gamma ray burst's host galaxy but has revealed the density of its hydrogen clouds.

"Learning more about these far-away galaxies helps us to understand how they formed during the early universe. The gamma ray burst observed on this occasion originated in a galaxy 8 billion light years from Earth."

While the latest burst may be comfortably distant from Earth, one happening closer to our solar system could have devastating consequences - such as the mass extinction of life itself.

While the short duration of a gamma-ray burst may fry the side of the planet facing it, there is also the danger that atmospheric chemistry could be irreversibly altered by reducing the ozone layer and generating acidic nitrogen oxides ultimately causing severe damage to the biosphere.

In 2005, scientists at NASA and the University of Kansas released a more detailed study which suggested that the Ordovician-Silurian extinction events, which occurred approximately 450 million years ago, could have been triggered by a gamma-ray burst.

While gamma-ray bursts in the Milky Way galaxy are rare - possibly only one in every 100,000 to million years - Nasa scientists estimate that at least one nearby event has probably hit the Earth in the past billion years.

But that hasn't stopped physicists looking for potentially dangerous candidates.

And they have found one.

The Wolf-Rayet star WR 104, located 8,000 light years from Earth, has been found to have a rotational axis aligned within 16 degrees of the solar system.

If it produced a GRB, one of the jets might be pointed towards Earth.

Thankfully, the chance of WR 104 producing a gamma-ray burst are small, and the effects on Earth from such a potential event are not fully understood.