Astronomers have detected a powerful burst of radio waves that traveled more than 10 billion years before reaching Earth, making it the most distant fast radio burst ever recorded.

The signal, known as FRB 20240304B, originated when the universe was about 3 billion years old, long before Earth and the Sun existed.

Researchers detected the burst using South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope and identified its host galaxy with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

Scientists believe fast radio bursts may come from highly magnetized neutron stars called magnetars, although their exact origins remain a mystery, The Guardian has reported.

The discovery could help researchers measure otherwise invisible matter throughout the universe and better understand how galaxies evolved in the early stages of cosmic history.