A team of astronomers has identified a burst of radio waves that has travelled for more than 10 billion years before reaching Earth, making it the most distant fast radio burst (FRB) ever recorded.
The intense flash, which is believed to have originated in a galaxy far, far away, has traversed roughly 80 % of the universe’s history. Its arrival at Earth provides a rare glimpse into the early cosmos.
Fast radio bursts are brief, powerful pulses of radio energy that last only a few milliseconds. While their origins remain a subject of scientific debate, they are now recognised as a key tool for probing the intergalactic medium and the large‑scale structure of the universe.
By measuring the dispersion of the burst’s radio waves, researchers were able to estimate its distance and confirm that it is the farthest FRB detected to date. The discovery adds a new chapter to the growing catalogue of these enigmatic cosmic signals.
Future observations of such distant bursts may help astronomers refine models of the early universe and improve our understanding of the distribution of matter across cosmic time.
<small>Source: The Guardian — read the original story there.</small>
