Pretoria: A team of astronomers, led by the University of Pretoria, has identified the most distant hydroxyl megamaser, also referred to as a 'space laser.' This discovery was made using South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope, as reported by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO).

According to Anadolu Agency, the system, named HATLAS J142935.3-002836, is situated over 8 billion light-years away within a merging galaxy. SARAO highlighted that this is the most distant and luminous space laser known to date. The system's observed form dates back to a time when the universe was less than half its current age, indicating its vast distance.

The research facility further stated that the luminosity of the system is significant enough to classify it as a gigamaser rather than a megamaser. Hydroxyl megamasers are naturally occurring phenomena in merging galaxies, where hydroxyl molecules collide to amplify radio waves, resulting in powerful emissions at an 18-centimeter wavelength.

Thato Manamela, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pretoria funded by SARAO, explained that the radio waves on their path to Earth are further amplified by a 'perfectly aligned, yet unrelated' galaxy. This galaxy acts as a lens due to its mass, bending the local space-time and enhancing the radio signal. Manamela compared the phenomenon to a radio laser passing through a cosmic telescope before being detected by the MeerKAT radio telescope.

Manamela emphasized that this significant discovery marks only the beginning of their research. He expressed the aspiration to identify not just one, but hundreds to thousands of such systems in the future.