Scientists Have Deciphered A 10-billion-year-old Signal From Space

• 10.10.2026, 12:36

It's a real treasure trove of information.

Astronomers have discovered the source of a powerful radio burst, the signal from which traveled to Earth for billions of years. It originated in a small galaxy during an era when the universe was about five times younger than it is today, according to The Conversation (translation by Charter97.org).

The FRB 20240304B burst was detected by the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa. Such signals last only a few milliseconds, and scientists have been trying to unravel their nature for nearly 20 years.

The source galaxy was identified using the James Webb Space Telescope. It turned out that the signal came from a galaxy that we see as it was 10.6 billion years ago. It is significantly smaller than the Milky Way and is actively forming new stars.

Researchers believe that such bursts may be caused by magnetars—young neutron stars with extremely powerful magnetic fields. However, there is still no single explanation for the origin of all fast radio bursts.

The main value of the discovery lies not only in the age of the signal. On their way to Earth, the radio waves interacted with matter and magnetic fields, leaving behind information about the medium through which they traveled.

“This is a veritable treasure trove of information about space that would otherwise be difficult to obtain,” the study’s authors emphasize.

Studying such bursts will help determine how matter is distributed among galaxies and how the Universe’s magnetic fields have changed over billions of years. Scientists hope to detect more of these signals and use them to study the history of the cosmos.