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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Astronomers traced a brief radio flash called FRB 20240304B to a galaxy whose light has traveled for roughly 11 billion years. The MeerKAT radio telescope detected the burst; the James Webb Space Telescope then identified its host galaxy and measured its redshift at 2.148. That places the event about three billion years after the Big Bang, making it the most distant fast radio burst identified to date in the 2026 reports.
What is FRB 20240304B?
It is a fast radio burst, or FRB: a brief, intense flash of radio waves arriving from beyond our galaxy. The signal is not a gamma-ray burst, and Webb did not detect the radio flash itself. The MeerTRAP team detected FRB 20240304B on March 4, 2024, with South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope.
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FRBs are scientifically interesting in part because their origins are not understood. As study lead author Manisha Caleb told NASA, “What makes fast radio bursts interesting is that we don’t know what generates them. We have theories for what objects produce them, but we don’t have conclusive proof.”
How far away is the burst?
The study reports the host galaxy’s redshift as 2.148 ± 0.001. Redshift measures how much the expansion of the universe has stretched the galaxy’s light; it is the direct distance-related measurement here. NASA describes the corresponding cosmic epoch as roughly three billion years after the Big Bang. The Guardian reported that the burst’s light traveled for more than 10 billion years, a plain-language way to express its great lookback time.
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In its 2026 account, NASA described FRB 20240304B as the most distant fast radio burst identified to date. That is a record claim tied to the reporting available then, not a permanent ranking as new bursts are found.
How did Webb find the galaxy?
MeerKAT’s radio observations localized the burst, giving astronomers a position to investigate. The likely host was too faint for the ground-based telescopes the team used, so they turned to Webb.
- Detect and localize: MeerKAT recorded the radio burst and helped pinpoint its position in the sky.
- Image the host: Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) detected a candidate galaxy at that position.
- Measure its redshift: Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) measured the galaxy’s spectrum, yielding a redshift of 2.148.
The study describes the host as a low-mass, clumpy, star-forming galaxy. The radio detection and the Webb follow-up played different roles: one found the burst, while the other revealed and characterized the galaxy associated with it.
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No confirmed mechanism is established for FRB 20240304B. Magnetars—neutron stars with exceptionally strong magnetic fields—are among the proposed explanations for fast radio bursts, but the available reporting does not show that a magnetar produced this particular signal. It is also not yet known whether this burst will repeat.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Can fast radio bursts reveal unseen matter?
Yes, they can help astronomers estimate matter along the path between a burst and Earth, including material that is difficult to observe directly. As radio waves travel through space, intervening matter affects the signal; studying that effect can provide clues about otherwise hard-to-see material. FRB 20240304B is valuable as an exceptionally distant probe, but this single detection does not by itself map the distribution of matter across the universe.
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