Australian astronomers from Macquarie University and Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne have discovered the oldest and most distant fast radio burst ever recorded. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Science.
Fast radio bursts are pulses of cosmic radiation from space.
Scientists using the ASKAP CSIRO radio telescope recorded a radiation emission that occurred approximately 8 billion years ago. Its power was comparable to the amount of energy our Sun radiates in 30 years.
Astronomers determined that the record-breaking radio burst occurred in a group of two or three galaxies merging.
According to the researchers, the discovery will help more accurately estimate the mass of the universe; because the further the source of the ejection is from Earth, the more gas is detected dispersed between galaxies.
“We think the missing matter is hidden in the space between galaxies, but it may be so hot and dispersed that it cannot be found by conventional methods. Fast radio bursts capture this ionized material. They can ‘see’ all the electrons even in almost completely empty space, allowing us to measure how much matter there is between galaxies.” makes it possible,” explained Associate Professor Ryan Shannon, one of the study’s authors.
Astrophysicists before in the name One of the possible reasons for the origin of fast radio bursts.