Webb telescope detects galaxy origin of the farthest fast radio burst we've seen to date

Astronomers used the Webb telescope to see where the farthest fast radio burst we’ve ever seen had come from. Webb telescope detects galaxy origin of the farthest fast radio burst we’ve seen to date. DePasquale (STScI) Add on Google: Preferred Source Google Discover Back in 2024, scientists detected the farthest fast radio burst we’ve ever seen to date, thanks to observations by the MeerKAT ground telescope array.

Fast radio bursts are ultra-fast radio waves from deep space, which last a fraction of a second but release as much as energy as what the sun emits in three days. They were first discovered in 2007, and not much is known about them. Now, astronomers have used the James Webb telescope to pinpoint the origin of the burst detected in 2024, and it could shed light on the phenomenon’s origins.

Webb’s near-infrared instruments detected a galaxy in the right location from where the burst had come. Based on measurements from the way its light stretches, the fast radio burst occurred just 3 billion years after the Big Bang. Its origin galaxy existed way back when star formation was at its peak in the universe.