Record-breaking 'space laser' erupts from merging galaxies 8 billion light-years away Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Astronomers just watched a star 1,540 times the size of our sun transform into a hypergiant. Will it go supernova?Hubble and NASA space telescopes track 'game-changing' gamma-ray burst back to neutron star collision in 'forbidden' region of the universeIllustration of the distant galaxy 8 billion light-years away , magnified by an unrelated foreground disk galaxy, resulting in a red ring. Splitting up the radio light into different colors, as a prism does, reveals the hydroxyl gigamaser .Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsSign up to our monthly entertainment newsletter to keep up with all our coverage of the latest sci-fi and space movies, tv shows, games and books.Discover this week's must-see night sky events, moon phases, and stunning astrophotos. Sign up for our skywatching newsletter and explore the universe with us!Space.com's Sci-Fi Reader's Club. Read a sci-fi short story every month and join a virtual community of fellow science fiction fans!Astronomers have spotted the most distant and brightest"space laser," or megamaser, ever seen, and it's blasting out from a collision between galaxies that occurred when the universe was just half its current age. This galaxy system, designated HATLAS J142935.3–002836, is emanating light that needed to travel for about 8 billion years before it reached thein South Africa. The laser is specifically a hydroxyl megamaser, meaning it is similar to a laser but is seen in microwave or radio wave radiation rather than in visible light. The prefix"hydroxyl" refers to the fact that this space laser was created when hydroxyl molecules, each composed of one oxygen and one hydrogen atom, smashed into one another within the gas-dense, collidingAstronomers unveil largest 3D universe map of its kind, illuminating 'hidden' cosmic structures Black holes! Supernovas! Merging galaxies! Oh my! Largest radio survey of the cosmos ever reveals 13.7 million powerful cosmic objects and eventsGravitational lensing describes what happens when light from a distant source, our megamaser in this case, passes by warps in spacetime caused by an object of great mass, like a cluster of galaxies. The closer that light passes to the warping object, or gravitational lens, the more strongly its otherwise straight path gets curved. As a result, light from the same object can arrive at our telescopes at different times, and this magnifies the background object. "We discovered a very distant hydroxyl megamaser using the MeerKAT radio telescope. The signal comes from a galaxy at high redshift and is strongly magnified by gravitational lensing," discovery team leader Thato Manamela of the University of Pretoria told Space.com."This magnification makes the emission easier to detect and allows us to study a system that would otherwise be too faint to observe." Manamela added that megamasers are rare based on studies conducted in the near universe, usually found in bright infrared galaxies that contain huge amounts of gas and dust. These environments are often the result of two or more galaxies colliding and merging to birth a new"daughter" galaxy. Mergers like this trigger bouts of intense star formation, as well as creating the physical conditions that allow the hydroxyl molecules to amplify radio emission. "This megamaser is unusual because it is located at a very large distance. That means we are observing it from a much earlier time in the universe," Manamela continued."The signal is also gravitationally lensed, which boosts the brightness and provides a natural magnifying effect. This combination makes it one of the most distant and powerful hydroxyl megamasers known."Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors The fact that a megamaser is erupting from this galaxy collision indicates the presence of dense molecular gas and intense activity. "By studying the emission lines, we can learn about the gas kinematics, the physical conditions in the galaxy, and the processes driving star formation," Manamela said."Megamasers can also act as indicators of dual active galactic nuclei or pairs of supermassive black holes, systems that are expected to produce gravitational waves." "This will help us understand how common megamasers were in the early universe and how they relate to galaxy evolution and star formation," Manamela concluded. The team's research has been accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters and is available as a preprint on the paper repository server Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter @sciencef1rst.Black holes! Supernovas! Merging galaxies! Oh my! 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