MeerKAT directly detects faint hydrogen signal from the distant universe

Astronomers from the University of Manchester and the University of the Western Cape have directly detected an extremely faint radio signal from hydrogen gas billions of light-years away, opening a powerful new way to map the large-scale structure of the universe. Using South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope, the international team measured radio emissions from neutral hydrogen dating back to a time when the universe was several billion years younger than it is today.