Overview
- The radio flash FRB 20240304B was first detected by the MeerTRAP system on the MeerKAT array in March 2024 and the localization and host identification were published in Science on October 8–9, 2026.
- NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope measured the host galaxy’s redshift at about 2.148, which places the burst roughly 10 billion light-years away when the universe was about three billion years old and makes it the most distant localized FRB to date.
- JWST imaging and spectroscopy showed the host is a very small, metal-poor dwarf that is actively forming stars, a combination that strengthens the case that at least some FRBs come from young magnetars born in recent stellar explosions.
- The burst’s very high dispersion measure of roughly 2,400 indicates its radio waves passed through large amounts of ionized gas, demonstrating that FRBs can carry information about intergalactic baryons and magnetic fields across about 80% of cosmic history.
- The team plans coordinated searches pairing MeerKAT/MeerTRAP detections with targeted JWST follow-up to find more distant hosts and to use FRBs as probes of the cosmic web, work that will be extended by future facilities such as the SKA.