Astronomers detect super strong hydroxyl megamaser 8 billion light-years away
Astronomers just picked up a super-strong "mega-laser" signal that traveled eight billion light-years to reach us.
Spotted by South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope, this rare signal, called a hydroxyl megamaser, was created when two galaxies collided and their gasses got excited enough to send out intense radio waves.
Usually, signals fade over such huge distances, so this one really stands out.
Gravitational lensing reveals HATLAS J142935.3-002836 signal
The signal came from the HATLAS J142935.3-002836 galaxy system and was only visible thanks to gravitational lensing, which acts like nature's magnifying glass.
Dr. Thato Manamela from the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory described it as "We are observing the radio equivalent of a laser halfway across the universe."
This discovery could help us learn more about how galaxies behaved in the early universe and might even support future searches for gravitational waves.