The Farthest Radio Burst Traveled 8 Billion Years to Reach Earth

A cosmic radio burst carried more energy than the Sun produces in 30 years.

Key Takeaways:

A fast radio burst (FRB) traveled 8 billion years before reaching Earth—the farthest ever detected.
The signal, lasting less than a millisecond, released energy equal to 30 years of sunlight.
Astronomers believe magnetars—ultra-magnetic neutron stars—are the likely source of these bursts.
The burst originated from a merging galaxy cluster forming new stars, pinpointed with powerful telescopes.
Studying FRBs may help astronomers map missing matter and understand the large-scale structure of the universe.

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An 8-Billion-Year Journey Across the Universe

In June 2022, astronomers using a radio telescope in Australia detected an extraordinary cosmic event—an extremely powerful fast radio burst (FRB) that had traveled an astonishing 8 billion years before reaching Earth. The discovery, published in Science, marks the most distant and energetic FRB ever observed.

Fast radio bursts are short-lived, millisecond-long flashes of radio waves that originate from deep space. Since their first discovery in 2007, astronomers have worked to understand their origins, with many suspecting that magnetars—dead stars with ultra-powerful magnetic fields—are responsible for these bursts. However, the exact mechanism behind these emissions remains unknown.

The Milky Way appears in August 2022 over the Chilean Atacama Desert. The extreme aridity makes the Atacama Desert one of the clearest places on earth to view the night sky. Credit: Martin Bernetti, AFP Via Getty Images

This newly detected FRB, named FRB 20220610A, packed an immense amount of energy—equal to what the Sun emits over 30 years. To put it in perspective, that’s enough power to microwave a popcorn bowl twice the size of the Sun, according to study co-author Ryan Shannon of Swinburne University of Technology in Australia.

Unlocking the Universe’s Hidden Matter

To capture this fleeting signal, astronomers relied on the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder radio telescope. Once detected, they turned to the Very Large Telescope in Chile to pinpoint its origin. Their findings suggest that FRB 20220610A originated from a group of merging galaxies where new stars are forming—a promising clue in solving the mystery of FRBs.

So far, scientists have traced the origins of around 50 FRBs, but they estimate that at least 1,000 more remain undiscovered, some potentially even farther away. Detecting and studying these signals could help astronomers address one of the biggest mysteries in cosmology: the missing matter of the universe.

Though not to scale, an artist's impression illustrates the path of the fast radio burst from the distant galaxy where it originated all the way to Earth. It's so far away it took 8 billion years for its light to reach Earth, making it the most distant FRB found to date. — An illustration shows a Fast Radio Burst escaping three colliding galaxies and traveling to the Milky Way. (Image credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser)

Although current models predict how much normal matter (atoms and particles) should exist in the universe, more than half of it remains unaccounted for. Scientists suspect this missing matter is spread out in the vast space between galaxies, but it is so hot and diffuse that it evades detection by conventional methods. However, FRBs may offer a solution—by analyzing how these radio waves travel through space, astronomers can map the invisible matter between galaxies.

Future radio telescopes, including those being built in Western Australia and South Africa, will provide even deeper insights into these mysterious bursts. With more advanced instruments, scientists hope to detect even older and more distant FRBs, bringing them closer to unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos.

As astronomers continue to observe these powerful flashes, FRBs are proving to be more than just fascinating cosmic phenomena—they could become key tools in mapping the universe itself.