South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope is mapping the previously unseen regions between galaxies – and has discovered 60 new cosmic structures.

South Africa's MeerKAT telescope is mapping the previously unseen regions between galaxies - and has discovered 60 new cosmic structures.

Astronomers are discovering things that were once hidden inside some of the largest objects in the universe, known as galaxies. Using the powerful MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa, researchers have mapped the extinction, the scattering of radio emissions, a signal that reveals the energetic processes that occur in the large spaces between galaxies when … Read more

Unrecorded ‘space laser’ bursts from merging galaxies 8 billion light-years away

A diagram showing the fabric of spacetime with a boxout on the top-left with a blurry blue-white orb with jets shooting from both sides. There's a red blurry ring around the orb, but the jets are slightly jutting out from the ring.

Astronomers have spotted the farthest and brightest “cosmic laser,” or megamaser, ever seen, and it’s still exploding as a result of a collision of galaxies that happened when the universe was halfway through its current age. This star system, named HATLAS J142935.3–002836, emits light that should have traveled about 8 billion years before arriving. The … Read more