A team from astronomer has developed method it will allow themwatch“through the mists of the early universe and detecting light from the first stars and galaxiesas published in the journal ‘Nature Astronomy’.

The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), have developed a methodology that allowed them to observe and study the first stars through the hydrogen clouds that filled the universe some 378,000 years after big bang.

observe birth from the first stars and galaxies it has been a goal of astronomers for decades, as it will help explain how the Universe evolved from the vacuum of space after the Big Bang to the complex realm of celestial bodies we observe today, 13.8 billion years later.

Square Kilometer Array, new telescope

It Square Kilometer Array (SKA), a next-generation telescope due to be completed by the end of this decade, may be able to take Images from lthe earliest light from Universebut for today’s telescopes the challenge is detecting the star’s cosmological signal through thick clouds of hydrogen.

The signal that astronomers are trying to detect is estimated to be about 100,000 times weaker than other radio signals also coming from the sky, such as radio signals from our own galaxy.

The use of the radio telescope itself causes distortion of the received signal, which can completely obscure the desired cosmological signal. This is considered an extreme observational challenge in modern radiocosmology. This instrument-related distortion is often blamed as a major impediment to this type of observation.

The methodology that allowed us to observe the first stars

Now, a Cambridge-led team has developed a methodology for seeing through primordial clouds and other noise signals from the sky, avoiding the detrimental effects of distortion introduced by radio telescopes. The methodology, which is part of the REACH experiment (Radio Experiments for Cosmic Hydrogen Analysis), will allow astronomers to observe the first stars through their interactions with hydrogen cloudin the same way as we deduce the landscape by looking at the shadows in fog.

Their method will improve the quality and reliability of observations from radio telescopes studying this key, uncharted epoch in the Universe’s development. REACH’s first observation is expected end of this year.