A team of South African researchers has detected an extraordinary deep-space signal – the most distant ‘cosmic laser’ ever discovered. The natural radio emission formed in a galaxy so far away that we’re seeing it as it existed when the universe was less than half its current age.
Northern Cape, South Africa (19 February 2026) – And yes, it’s as cool as it sounds.
A team led by the University of Pretoria (UP) has detected the most distant hydroxyl megamaser ever found, using South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope in the Northern Cape.
In space, certain galaxies are packed with huge reservoirs of gas. When two of these gas-rich galaxies collide, the crash compresses vast clouds of molecules, including hydroxyl molecules. Under the right conditions, those molecules amplify radio waves in a way that’s similar to how lasers amplify light here on Earth.
But instead of visible light beams, this amplification happens at radio wavelengths beyond what our eyes can see. When that radio signal becomes exceptionally bright, astronomers call it a ‘megamaser.’ In this case, the signal was so powerful it could even be considered a ‘gigamaser.’
Lead author of the study, Dr Thato Manamela, a postdoctoral researcher at UP who is funded by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, describes it as the radio equivalent of a laser halfway across the observable universe.
“This system is truly extraordinary,” says Dr Thato Manamela. “We’re seeing the radio equivalent of a laser halfway across the universe. Not only that, during its journey to Earth, the radio waves are further amplified by a perfectly aligned yet unrelated foreground galaxy. This galaxy acts as a lens – the way a water droplet on a window pane would behave – because its mass curves the local space-time. So we have a radio laser passing through a cosmic telescope before being detected by the powerful MeerKAT radio telescope, together enabling a wonderfully serendipitous discovery.”
The system, known as HATLAS J142935.3–002836, is so far away that we’re seeing it as it was when the universe was less than half its current age.
On its way to Earth, the radio signal passed behind an unrelated foreground galaxy that happened to be perfectly aligned. The gravity of that galaxy bent and magnified the light – a phenomenon called ‘gravitational lensing’ – acting like a giant natural telescope in space.
The radio telescope that enabled this discovery is the MeerKAT. Based in the Northern Cape, it’s one of the world’s leading radio astronomy instruments. It consists of 64 large dish antennas working together to detect extremely faint radio signals from space.
The data collected by MeerKAT runs into terabytes. Scientists must carefully calibrate and process it using advanced algorithms and powerful computing systems.
“This result is a powerful demonstration of what the MeerKAT can do when paired with advanced computational infrastructure, fit-for-purpose data processing pipelines and highly trained software support personnel,” says co-author of the study Professor Roger Deane, who is the Director of the Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy and a professor at the Universities of Cape Town and Pretoria. “This synergistic combination empowers young South African scientists, like Dr Manamela, to lead cutting-edge science and compete with the best in the world.”
Hydroxyl megamasers are rare and important. They tend to occur in galaxies undergoing violent mergers. These are moments when intense star formation and black hole activity are triggered. That makes them valuable markers for understanding how galaxies evolve over cosmic time.
Dr Manamela says the goal isn’t to find just one system, but hundreds – even thousands.
Systematic surveys using MeerKAT are already underway, building the skills, software and research foundations needed to go even further, especially as South Africa prepares for the observations made possible by the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
The SKA will be the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope, spread across South Africa and Australia, with thousands of antennas working together to detect extremely faint radio signals from the earliest galaxies.
Sources: University of Pretoria.
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