Scientists have discovered a microwave laser beam 8 billion light-years away that's the most powerful and distant of its kind. The study's author told New Scientist the signal is roughly 100,000 times the luminosity of a star. It's so bright, researchers created a new category for it: the "gigamaser." A maser is the radio-wavelength version of a laser. Both are focused, coherent beams of electromagnetic radiation, except a laser emits wavelengths your eyes can see, while a maser emits radio waves you can't see. Hydroxyl masers, like the one discovered, form when two galaxies crash into each other. The collision compresses gas and excites hydroxyl molecules, which then amplify passing radio waves into a concentrated beam. That amplification produces a maser with a 7-inch wavelength, far longer than visible light. A team of astronomers used the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa to discover the maser in the galaxy HATLAS J142935.3–002836.…