💨 Abstract

Astrophysicists have detected the brightest and most distant natural "space laser," a gigamaser, using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa. This emission, from a galactic merger about 8 billion light-years away, occurs when gas compression stimulates hydroxyl molecules to emit intense microwave radiation. The signal was amplified by gravitational lensing, where a foreground galaxy bends and magnifies light. The object, HATLAS J142935.3–

Courtesy: Rory McKeown