... GRB 980703: A Reassuring Redshift . ... Keck Observatory Explanation: In the old days, just over a year ago, astronomers had little idea of the true distance to gamma-ray bursts . ... Last May, a first telling distance measure was made - GRB 970508 showed an absorption line with a redshift of about 0.8 - indicating that this gamma-ray burst (GRB) was an enormous distance away. ... GRB 980703 's optical transient shows a well-measured redshift from both an absorption line and an emission line : 0.97....