New method of calculating cosmic mass

Through radio waves, astronomers can calculate the amount of matter they pass through, thus finding the mass of the universe.

Recently, astronomers discovered radio waves coming from distant places. Called Fast Radio Bursts (FRB) , they last only about a millisecond and the number of flashes recorded is new at 16.

Australian Telescope Compact Array Telescope.(Photo: Alex Cherney).

On April 18, 2015, a wave of 64m aperture Parkes radio telescope recorded in Australia. Within hours after the news spread, some other telescopes also searched for signals. The Australian Telescope Compact Array telescope determines the location of the flash. At the same time, the 8.2-meter Subaru optical telescope at the Japan National Observatory also spotted a flash coming from a galaxy 6 billion light-years from Earth, according to The Guardian.

This is the first time the origin and distance of the FRB has been measured. The discovery makes an important contribution to helping scientists calculate the cosmic mass because when radio waves move through space, the amount of matter they pass will divide the wave frequency into different bands. High frequencies will reach Earth before low frequencies. The delay between frequencies allows astronomers to calculate the amount of matter that radio waves pass through before reaching Earth.

In the study published today in the journal Nature, Evan Keane, a researcher at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in England, calculates this way and detects the amount of matter that exactly matches hypothetical calculations instead of Estimates based on star numbers in the universe. The material that scientists have not yet discovered is likely floating in the intergalactic space in dilute gas clouds.