Ancient fast radio burst reportedly sets a new distance record
PhysicsUnverifiedUpdated:
FRB 20240304B reportedly was linked to a host galaxy at redshift 2.148. The signal is said to have traveled about ten billion light-years from a galaxy seen roughly three billion years after the Big Bang.
A host galaxy identified with MeerKAT and JWST
404 Media reports that researchers detected FRB 20240304B, a brief energetic radio signal that reached Earth on March 4, 2024. Using South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope and follow-up observations by the James Webb Space Telescope, the team reportedly associated it with a low-mass, clumpy, star-forming host galaxy at redshift 2.148.
The report says the next-farthest known fast radio burst was less than half as distant as FRB 20240304B; it does not identify that earlier burst.
According to the report, FRB 20240304B extends the localized fast-radio-burst sample to a host galaxy at redshift 2.148, more than twice as distant as the previous farthest known burst.
The reported observation reaches a much earlier period of the universe than previously known localized fast radio bursts. The source says such signals may preserve clues about cosmic evolution, while the mechanism producing FRBs remains unknown.
Sources
- 404 MediaScientists Detect Record-Breaking Radio Signal from the Ancient UniverseRead source →