Vast ‘megamaser’ laser further away than any other found before detected in space

(AFP via Getty Images)

A vast laser named a “megamaser” has been spotted in space, further than any detected before.

The powerful radio-wave laser travelled 58 thousand billion billion kilometres to get to Earth, where it was detected by the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa.

Scientists have named the record-breaking object “Nkalakatha”, an isiZulu that means “big boss”, in recognition of its vast scale.

The intense blasts are usually created when two galaxies smash into each other in the universe.

“When galaxies collide, the gas they contain becomes extremely dense and can trigger concentrated beams of light to shoot out,” said Marcin Glowacki, the researcher who led the team that found the blast.

“This is the first hydroxyl megamaser of its kind to be observed by MeerKAT and the most distant seen by any telescope to date.

Researchers are using the MeerKAT telescope to survey the sky for more than 3,000 hours, with the hopetecting such objects. But the discovery came on just the first night – leading to hope that more can be found both about the megamaser and other similar objects.

“It’s impressive that, with just a single night of observations, we’ve already found a record-breaking megamaser. It shows just how good the telescope is,” said Dr Glowacki.

Scientists are using the telescope to study atomic hydrogenin galaxies. They hope they can use that information to better understand the evolution of the universe.

A paper describing the find, ‘LADUMA: Discovery of a luminous OH megamaser at z > 0.5’, has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.