ROTSE IIIb Telescope (IMAGE) Southern Methodist University Caption SMU's ROTSE IIIb at the McDonald Observatory, Fort Davis, Texas had the earliest and brightest observation from the ground of a gamma-ray burst that occurred more than 12 billion years ago. The telescope is part of the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment, which has telescopes in four locations on Earth to cover the entire sky in search of gamma-ray bursts. Credit ROTSE Collaboration. Usage Restrictions Please credit License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.