Ancient Radio Waves Break Distance Record, Puzzling Scientists

Astronomers have detected a fast radio burst (FRB) originating from a merger of galaxies dating back 8 billion years, making it the oldest-known instance of this phenomenon. The burst released an amount of energy equivalent to what the sun emits in three decades and was detected using the Australian SKA Pathfinder and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. FRBs are short bursts of radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation that outshine most other sources of radio waves in the universe. The source of these bursts is believed to be hyper-magnetized neutron stars called magnetars, and studying them can help detect and measure the intergalactic plasma between galaxies.