The radio signal was picked up 9 billion light-years away

by time news

Space.com said on Friday that a radio signal 9 billion light-years from Earth was captured in record-breaking.

The signal was detected by a single wavelength known as the “21cm line” or “hydrogen line”, which is said to be emitted by neutral hydrogen atoms.

The signal picked up by the giant Meterwave radio telescope in India could mean that scientists can begin to investigate and the report points to the formation of some of the first stars and galaxies.

The researchers detected the signal from a “star-forming galaxy” called SDSSJ0826+5630, which was emitted when the 13.8-billion-year-old Milky Way – the galaxy in which Earth resides – was only 4.9 billion years old.

“It’s the equivalent of a glimpse,” author and postdoctoral cosmologist from McGill University’s Department of Physics, Arnab Chakraborty, said in a statement this week.

The signal means that scientists can track the formation of the largest stars and galaxies.
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

The galaxies will emit light over a wide range of radio wavelengths. But until recently, radio waves with a wavelength of 21 cm were only recorded in nearby galaxies.

“The galaxy emits different types of radio signals. Until now, it was only possible to pick up this particular signal from a nearby galaxy, which limits our knowledge of galaxies closest to Earth,” Chakraborty said.

The signal allowed astronomers to measure the galaxy’s gas content and thus find the galaxy’s mass.

This determination led scientists to conclude that this distant galaxy is twice as massive as stars visible from Earth, according to the report.

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