8Billion year old radio signal detected in a distant galaxy
Thanks to the joint efforts of Canadian astronomers and India's giant GMRT radio telescope, humanity has intercepted the oldest and most distant radio signal in our universe. Explanation.
The universe has something so dizzying that its extent becomes fascinating. Our galaxy (the Milky Way) is immensely large (52,850 light years), yet it pales in comparison to the size of the universe as a whole. Does he even have a clear delimitation elsewhere?
Several billion light years away
That said, with the progress of astronomy, we manage to find our way around a little more. This time it was Canadian astronomers who made it possible to discover a signal coming from a distant galaxy. And that is to say the least. SDSSJ0826+5630 of its small name, is indeed located 8.8 billion light years from our planet . But in fact, what is the nature of this sign?
India's giant GMRT radio telescope has detected the light signature coming from uncharged atomic hydrogen ! As a building block of the cosmos, hydrogen says a lot about the characteristics of the universe depending on where we find it. It is for this reason that astronomers go in search of this precious molecule.
atomic hydrogen
This hydrogen emitting light, the signal therefore travels (if you have followed it correctly) at the speed of this one . So, by the time the wave crosses the cosmos, it happens to us like this was 8 billion years ago.
"A galaxy emits different types of radio signals , " says cosmologist Arnab Chakraborty, from McGill University in Canada. "So far, it has only been possible to pick up this particular signal from a nearby galaxy, which limits our knowledge to the galaxies closest to Earth."
A trace of the early universe
It is a valuable clue for the quest for the primitive universe and the first moments of it. Our space being about 13.8 billion years since the big bang, this signal provides us with valuable clues about its birth.
To be more precise, the radio signal emitted by the hydrogen in question is a light wave with a length of 21 centimeters. Not easy to detect due to its very small size. The previous record was for a wave 4.4 billion light years away.
As the researchers explain, the detection of this signal was made possible by the presence, in the path of the wave, of a massive object which made it easier to find . The curve of the space made it possible to amplify its light. “In this specific case, the signal is bent by the presence of another massive body, another galaxy, between the target and the observer ,” explains astrophysicist Nirupam Roy, from the Indian Institute of Science.
Source : websites