![\"Composite](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Composite-image-from-Hubble-and-Keck-II-showing-a-foreground-galaxy-lensing-H1429-0028-into-a-ring.w.webp\")
Composite image from Hubble and Keck II showing a foreground galaxy lensing H1429-0028 into a ring. Credit: NASA\/ESA\/ESO\/W. M. Keck Observatory<\/p>\n
When they turned the instrument toward H1429-0028, they checked the 1667 megahertz channel almost casually. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a quick look at the 1667 megahertz [frequency], just to see whether it was even detectable, and there was this booming, huge [signal],\u201d Deane said. \u201cIt was immediately the record. It was serendipitous.\u201d<\/p>\n
The signal\u2019s strength marked it as the brightest and most distant maser ever observed. The background galaxy\u2019s light is amplified by gravitational lensing, visible in combined imagery from Hubble <\/a>and the Keck II telescope<\/a>, where the foreground galaxy appears as a diagonal streak and the lensed galaxy forms a distorted ring.<\/p>\n How Galaxy Collisions Generate Powerful Masers<\/p>\n Masers require very specific physical conditions. When galaxies collide, their gas clouds are compressed, triggering intense star formation. Light from these newly formed stars travels through dust clouds, exciting hydroxyl ions, molecules made of hydrogen and oxygen, into higher energy states.<\/p>\n As the study\u2019s authors explained, when these excited ions are struck by radio waves, such as those produced near a supermassive black hole<\/a>, they can rapidly release energy in the form of coherent microwave radiation. This produces a highly concentrated beam at a single frequency.<\/p>\n Deane stated that the newly observed maser may qualify as a gigamaser, a category more powerful than previously known megamasers detected in closer galaxies. He noted that the luminosity is about 100,000 times that of a star, concentrated into a very small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.<\/p>\n A Tool for Probing Galaxy Mergers in the Distant Universe<\/p>\n Because H1429-0028 lies nearly 8 billion light-years away, the detected radiation began its journey when the universe was much younger. Such distant masers offer insight into how galaxies merged and evolved over cosmic time.<\/p>\n![\"Illustration](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Illustration-of-the-record-breaking-cosmic-microwave-laser-1200x727.jpg.webp.webp\")
Illustration of the record-breaking cosmic microwave laser. Credit: South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO)<\/p>\n