South Africa's MeerKAT telescope finds distant hydroxyl megamaser
NewsBytes | March 18, 2026 7:40 PM CST
How did the discovery happen?
MeerKAT detected two special radio signals from hydroxyl molecules, boosted by a foreground galaxy acting like a cosmic magnifying glass.
In under five hours, the team got superclear data, helping them study this faraway galaxy's makeup and activity up close.
Gigamasers usually show up when galaxies are crashing together, triggering intense star formation and feeding central black holes.
Finding one this far out hints there could be hundreds more waiting to be discovered, and each one helps us understand how galaxies grew up in the early universe.
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