由曼彻斯特大学和西开普大学领导的国际研究团队利用南非MeerKAT射电望远镜，首次直接探测到来自数十亿光年外的中性氢无线电信号1。这一信号的发出时间距今约40-50亿年1，标志着氢强度映射技术在宇宙观测中的重大突破。
研究人员在约96小时的MeerKAT观测数据基础上完成了这一发现，该观测记录采集于2018年1。所探测到的信号来自两个不同的宇宙时期1，测绘距离范围达数百万光年，相当于银河系与仙女座星系之间的距离1。研究成果已发表于《天体物理学杂志快报》1，为即将投入使用的平方公里阵列天文台(SKAO)的宇宙学观测奠定了基础。
主要作者苏拉布·保罗博士指出，"氢强度映射长期被视为有前景的宇宙测绘方式，但信号极其微弱且难以从前景辐射、人工无线电干扰和仪器效应中分离"1。这项研究证明了氢强度映射技术可成为大规模三维宇宙测绘的实用工具，其效率远高于逐个识别星系的传统方法1。
An international team of astronomers has directly detected neutral hydrogen radio signals from billions of light-years away using South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope, with the signals originating approximately 4 to 5 billion years ago.1 The detection demonstrates that hydrogen intensity mapping can serve as a practical tool for large-scale three-dimensional cosmic surveys, offering significantly greater efficiency than traditional methods that require identifying individual galaxies.1 The findings, led by researchers from the University of Manchester and the University of the Western Cape, were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters in 2026 and lay the groundwork for upcoming cosmological observations with the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO).1
The research utilized approximately 96 hours of MeerKAT observational data collected in 2018, detecting hydrogen signals from two distinct cosmic epochs at redshifts of approximately 0.32 and 0.44.1 According to Dr. Sourabh Paul, the lead author, "Hydrogen intensity mapping has long been regarded as a promising approach to cosmic surveying, but the signals are extremely faint and difficult to isolate from foreground radiation, artificial radio interference, and instrumental effects."1
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