Telescope spots powerful radio-wave laser at about five billion light-years away
powerful radio-wave laser
- Country:
- South Africa
An international team of astronomers, using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa, have detected a powerful radio-wave laser, called a 'megamaser' at about five billion light-years from Earth.
Named 'Nkalakatha', it is the most distant megamaser of its kind ever detected by a telescope. It was detected on the first night of a survey involving more than 3000 hours of observations by the radio telescope.
According to the researchers, the light from the record-breaking megamaser has travelled 58 thousand billion billion kilometres to Earth. It was emitted about 5 billion years ago when the universe was only about two-thirds of its current age.
"When galaxies collide, the gas they contain becomes extremely dense and can trigger concentrated beams of light to shoot out. This is the first hydroxyl megamaser to be observed by MeerKAT and the most distant seen by any telescope to date," said Dr Marcin Glowacki, who led the team.
Glowacki previously worked at the Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa and is now based at the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Western Australia. The lead researcher said that they have already planned follow-up observations of the megamaser.
When galaxies merge in collisions of cosmic proportions, the gas they contain becomes extremely dense. This can stimulate hydroxyl molecules to emit a specific radio signal called a maser and when that signal is exceedingly bright, it is called a megamaser.
Researchers discover a powerful megamaser with MeerKAT, the most distant to be found. Scientists from @UWConline, @UCT_news , @Rhodes_Uni, @SKA_Africa, SAAO, and 12 other countries collaborated on the project.https://t.co/7Wf7889gND📸: Artist's impression of a hydroxyl maser. pic.twitter.com/CRQtabeGsH
— SAAO (@SAAO) April 8, 2022
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