MeerTRAP team detects farthest FRB 20240304B with MeerKAT telescope
Astronomers just found the farthest fast radio burst (FRB) yet, thanks to the MeerTRAP team using the MeerKAT telescope.
This signal, called FRB 20240304B, was first picked up by MeerKAT on March 4, 2024, and traveled more than 10 billion years to reach us, meaning it started out when the universe was only about 3 billion years old.
Burst originates in small star-forming galaxy
Instead of past FRBs that came from big, star-packed galaxies, this burst came from a small, young galaxy that's busy making new stars.
Scientists think these bursts might be caused by dramatic events like neutron star collisions or supermagnetized stars called magnetars.
Even cooler: studying FRBs like this could help us trace the cosmic web, the otherwise invisible matter and structures that it encounters along the way.