Astronomers have uncovered the most distant mini-halo ever detected, located around the galaxy cluster SpARCS1049, a staggering 10 billion light-years from Earth. Using the LOFAR radio telescope network, which spans eight European countries, researchers detected a faint, diffuse glow—evidence of a giant cloud of high-energy particles and magnetic fields stretching over a million light-years. This mini-halo signals that galaxy clusters were already bathed in energetic particles early in the universe’s history. The discovery opens a new window into how black holes and particle collisions may have shaped massive cosmic structures much earlier than previously known, and sets the stage for even deeper exploration using next-generation instruments like the Square Kilometre Array.
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