Astronomers have discovered the most distant radio signal ever
Its source is a radio loud quasar blasting out jets when the universe was still in its infancy.
With assistance from the ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have discovered the most distant radio emission ever recorded. The source is a quasar so distant that its light has been travelling 13 billion years to reach us. That means that it existed when the Universe was just 780 or so million years old.
This artist’s impression shows how the distant quasar P172+18 and its radio jets may have looked. To date (early 2021), this is the most distant quasar with radio jets ever found and it was studied with the help of ESO’s Very Large Telescope. It is so distant that light from it has travelled for about 13 billion years to reach us: we see it as it was when the Universe was only about 780 million years old. (ESO)
Using the European Southern Observatory s Very Large Telescope, an international team of scientists identified the most distant source of radio emissions yet discovered.
Radio Blast Detected In Space From Furthest Distance Ever Recorded
by : Julia Banim on : 08 Mar 2021 16:56
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Astronomers have detected a radio blast in space at the furthest distance ever recorded, with the help of the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT).
The blast originated from a quasar that is said to be so far away the light took 13 billion years to reach Earth. Incredibly, this means the signals are coming from a time when the universe was only 780 million years old.
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Distant quasars have previously been detected, however the latest one, nicknamed P172+18, differs due to being ‘radio-loud’, meaning this is the first time radio jets have been detected at such a distance and, consequently, from such an early stage in the history of the universe.
Astronomers found the distant radio source with the Magellan Telescope in Chile
They then used the Very Large Telescope in Chile to study confirm it as a quasar
Named P172+18 the team say it provides information on the early universe
This is the most distant quasar ever discovered by astronomers dating to a point when the universe was just 780 million years old, study authors explained
Most distant cosmic jet discovered 13 billion light-years away
This artist’s impression shows how the distant quasar P172+18 and its radio jets may have looked. To date (early 2021), this is the most distant quasar with radio jets ever found and it was studied with the help of ESO’s Very Large Telescope. It is so distant that light from it has travelled for about 13 billion years to reach us: we see it as it was when the Universe was only about 780 million years old.
It has taken 13 billion years for the light from the powerful jets of a distant object to reach us.