New insights into mysterious, cosmic ‘fast radio bursts’

WaShington: Astronomers have edged closer to solving the mystery of distant cosmic radio bursts, according to a study that offers insights into the blasts which emit more energy in a single millisecond than our sun does all day.

International astronomers have spotted a few dozen fast radio bursts (FRBs) – and as many as 10,000 may occur daily – but only one has repeated sporadically, known as FRB 121102, allowing it to be studied.

Researchers reported in the journal Nature on Wednesday that it appears to come from in an extreme environment, “among the most highly magnetised regions of space ever observed”. Similar environments are known to exist around massive black holes, but that may not be the only answer.

The radio bursts from FRB 121102 could also originate from a young neutron star inside a powerful nebula, or a supernova remnant, said the report.

“This is exotic. If we had one of these on the other side of our own galaxy – the Milky Way – it would disrupt radio here on Earth, and we’d notice, as it would saturate the signal levels on our smartphones,” said Shami Chatterjee, senior research associate in astronomy at Cornell University.

“Whatever is happening there is scary. We would not want to be there.”

These radio bursts were first discovered in 2007, so small even steps toward understanding their source offer big excitement for astronomers.