Two Maunakea Observatories have been used to reveal the most distant – and therefore the youngest – known radio beacon in the early Universe. Seen as it was 780 million years after the big bang, the object – a quasar known as P172+18 – was originally discovered in images from the Pan-STARRS telescope on Haleakalā, Maui. Detailed study with the Keck (infrared) and VLBA (radio) observatories on Maunakea, along with other telescopes worldwide, enabled its distance to be determined and revealed a “jet” of matter flying away from the central black hole of the quasar at a significant fraction of the speed of light.
Read more, in the W. M. Keck and VLBA press releases.