Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The signal from the edge of space has been captured by radio telescopes on Earth. The signal captures the earliest images in the history of the universe, which is estimated to be 13.8 billion years old.
The signal comes from the light from a hydrogen atom from a great distance and was captured by the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in India. The telescope picked up signals from the past, namely the distance between when light was emitted and detected on Earth, reaching 8.8 billion years.
This distance exceeds the previous record which ‘only’ reached 4.4 billion years. Meanwhile, Science Alert wrote down the wavelength of light from the recently discovered hydrogen atom is 21 centimeters.
“Each galaxy emits a unique type of radio signal,” said cosmologist Arnab Chakraborty of Canada’s McGill University, quoted from Science AlertFriday (27/1/2023).
“Until now we have only been able to pick up on certain signals from nearby galaxies. This limits human knowledge to only the galaxies closest to Earth.”
The research team used a gravitational lens to detect the signal. It turns out that it comes from a star-forming galaxy named SDSSJ0826+5630.
For your information, gravitational lensing or a gravitational lens is where light is magnified as it travels through curved space. The space surrounding the large object is between the telescope and the original source.
Astrophysicist Nirupam Roy explains that in some cases, the signal can be deflected due to an even larger object. One example is another galaxy.
“In this particular case, the signal was deflected by the presence of another massive object, another galaxy, between the target and the observer.” he explained. “This is the result of magnifying the signal by a factor of 30, so that the telescope can pick up on it.”
The results of this study give astronomers hope for repeating similar observations in the future, that is, distances and “views into the past” that were previously out of bounds.
Hydrogen atoms are formed when hot, ionized gas from a nearby galaxy “falls” toward the galaxy, where it cools. Finally, it turns into a hydrogen molecule, then it turns into a star.
The ability to see into the past could provide information to humans about how galaxies formed and the “behavior” of space at the time of their birth.
The new discovery, astronomers say, will “open up the possibility of investigating the cosmic evolution of gases with low-frequency telescopes in the near future.”
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