Canada’s CHIME independently detects ancient hydrogen signal — Live Science

For the first time, the Canadian radio telescope CHIME has detected a hydrogen signal from the early universe using only its own data. The observations could give astronomers a new and potentially more economical way to study dark energy — a phenomenon associated with the accelerated expansion of the universe, Live Science reports.

94 nights of observations

The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal, is based on data collected over 94 nights in 2019. Scientists spent seven years verifying the results. Previously, the CHIME team had to confirm its observations with other telescopes, which required more time and money.

CHIME, located near the city of Penticton in British Columbia, maps the entire northern sky every day. The telescope can detect radio signals originating from about 3 billion years after the Big Bang.

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Hydrogen as a cosmic indicator

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, and its faint radio emission makes it possible to trace the distribution of matter in space. Study co-author Arnab Chakraborty of the University of Toronto noted that after numerous checks, the signal did not disappear, so the team became convinced that it was observing real hydrogen from the distant universe.

In a separate accompanying paper, the researchers concluded that about 2% of hydrogen is in a neutral atomic state. This result generally agrees with measurements by other telescopes. Next, the team plans to analyze another seven years of CHIME observations to expand its study of hydrogen distribution.