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Scientists Create Most Detailed Radio Map of Early Universe Using MWA

Scientists Create Most Detailed Radio Map of Early Universe Using MWA

Astronomers using nine years of MWA data have set the strongest limits yet on the 21-cm hydrogen signal from the universe’s dark ages.

Written by Gadgets 360 Staff | Updated: 18 October 2025 18:07 IST

Scientists Create Most Detailed Radio Map of Early Universe Using MWA

Photo Credit: ICRAR

Using nine years of MWA data, astronomers set record 21-cm limits, unveiling early cosmic heating origins

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Highlights

MWA data sets tightest limits on 21-cm hydrogen signal yet
Findings hint early black holes warmed the intergalactic medium
SKA telescope may soon detect this faint cosmic radio glow

Astronomers are narrowing down on the evidence of the universe in its dark ages by searching for the faint 21-centimeter radio signal emitted by early-day hydrogen. It is a very faint emission, which happens due to a spin-flip transition in the hydrogen atoms, and it functions as a cosmic thermometer showing when the earliest stars and black holes started heating the gas between galaxies. Based on close to ten years of observations of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Australia, scientists have produced the most detailed radio map of the early universe so far and placed the most stringent constraints on this ancient signal.

Methods and Challenges

According to the research, the team led by Nunhokee relied on more than nine years of the MWA observations in the Western Australian region to seek a weak signal of hydrogen 21-cm. They simply attacked the line that is normally obscured by bright foreground noise of the Milky Way and the telescope.

Their sophisticated statistical filtering methods were able to isolate the signal and produced a cosmic radio sky map that was cleaner than ever before and a narrower upper limit on its strength.

Astronomers Capture First Image of Two Supermassive Black Holes Orbiting Each Other

Implications and Future Prospects

The team found no evidence for a cold early universe's absorption feature, ruling out an extremely cold cosmic dawn. Instead, the limits suggest the intergalactic medium was warmed by this epoch, consistent with models where X-rays from early black holes and stellar remnants heated the gas.

This work provides the first observational hint of a heated intergalactic medium at redshifts ~6.5-7.0. The next-generation Square Kilometer Array (SKA) radio telescope is expected to detect the 21-cm signal, with only a few hours of data needed to reveal this cosmic signal.

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