For the first time, scientists from Canada and India have detected radio signals from a galaxy located about 9 billion light years of the earth. The advance was possible thanks to the GMRT, a super telescope located in Indian territory.

The detection of radio waves was announced by the Royal Astronomical Society, based in London, UK. According to the researchers, this discovery represents a new step for the exploring the origins of the universe – which is estimated to have occurred nearly 14 billion years ago.

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“Until now, it was only possible to pick up this particular signal from the nearest galaxies, which limited our knowledge,” explained Arnab Chakraborty, cosmologist and co-author of the study, to the The mirror. “It’s the equivalent of looking back 8.8 billion years,” he adds.

Called ‘SDSSJ0826+5630’, the galaxy detected is mainly made up of stars. The signals, according to the scientists, were emitted when the universe was 4.9 billion years old.

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Chakraborty explains that the gravitational lenses of the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) picked up radio signals emitted by ‘SDSSJ0826+5630’ after a detour through another galaxy. The natural phenomenon ended up amplifying “the signal coming from the distant object, which allowed us to peer into the early universe”, explain the scientists.

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