Record-breaking fast radio burst offers astronomers path to weigh the Universe

Astronomers using ASKAP discovered an eight-billion-year-old burst of energy, demonstrating that we can detect and measure matter between galaxies. The discovery opens a path to using fast radio bursts to explore the expansion of the Universe and ultimately even ‘weigh’ the Universe.

But it will require even more powerful telescopes.

In a paper published in Science, a global team led by Macquarie University’s Dr Stuart Ryder and Swinburne University of Technology’s Associate Professor Ryan Shannon, report on their discovery of the most ancient and distant fast radio burst located to date.

Added by James Chesters on 2023-10-26