Astronomers have detected a fast radio burst (FRB) that traveled 8 billion years to reach Earth. This FRB, named FRB 20220610A, is one of the most distant and energetic such events ever observed. 

FRBs are intense, millisecond-long bursts of radio waves with unknown origins. The amount of energy in this FRB is equivalent to microwaving a bowl of popcorn twice the size of the sun. 

The FRB traveled almost half the age of the Universe before hitting telescopes on Earth. The amount of time it takes for a radio signal to reach Earth depends on the distance it travels. For example, a radio signal would need 0.00134 seconds to reach the ISS from a minimum distance of 250 miles.

Astronomers have detected an intense flash of radiowaves coming from what looks like a merger of galaxies dating to about 8 billion years ago – the oldest-known instance of a phenomenon called a fast radio burst that continues to defy explanation

Radio signals weaken as they travel further away from their source. The signal’s strength decreases by the square of the distance from the starting point. For example, if you’re twice as far away, the signal is only one-fourth as strong. 

Theoretical limits to how far a radio wave can travel don’t exist. However, radio signals not meant for interstellar communication have only traveled 100 light years before degrading to the point of being useless noise. 

The “readability” of a signal depends on the emitter’s power and the receiver’s sensitivity.

The farthest radio signal ever recorded by Earthly tools was from the galaxy SDSSJ0826+5630, located nearly 9 billion light years away. The signal was detected by the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in Pune, India. The GMRT is a field of 30 dish antennas, each nearly 150 feet in diameter. 

The signal was emitted when the universe was roughly a third of its current age. Researchers say receiving this signal is like reading a message from the past. It may help to explain distant galaxies. 

The only man made object that has gone really far is Voyager 1, which is at a distance of 18.7 billion kilometers (125.3 AU) from the sun. Voyager 1’s radio communication system was designed to be used up to and beyond the limits of the Solar System

Until now, the oldest-known such burst dated to 5 billion years ago, making this one 3 billion years older. The universe is about 13.8 billion years old. For comparison, Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. In seeing objects and events from long ago, astronomers peer across vast cosmic distances, making this burst also the farthest of any FRB ever detected.

“We now know that fast radio bursts have been around for more than half the age of the universe,” said astronomer and study co-leader Stuart Ryder of Macquarie University in Australia.

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