Tracing Fast Radio Bursts

The first Fast Radio Burst (FRB) ever detected occurred in 2007, and it is known as the Lorimer Burst FRB 010724. It was detected by Professor Duncan Lorimer and his student David Narkevic by analyzing archived data captured in 2001 by the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia. Later on in 2010, 16 similar signals were detected, but these signals were traced back to the opening of microwave oven doors during a heating cycle, which in turn caused the oven’s magnetron as it was powered down. Several FRB’s have been detected in the years that followed.

According to a study published in The Astrophysics Journal, astronomers recently traced five FRBs back to their source galaxies using the Hubble Space Telescope. These sources are billions of light-years away from us. While the astronomers were unable to pinpoint their actual locations, they were able to determine that the FRBs came from the spiral arms of these distant galaxies.

One hypothesis that is supported by the Hubble-based research, is that one likely source are neutron stars with intensely powerful magnetic fields, called magnetars. These stars have a magnetic field trillions of times more powerful than our own. They suspect that the FRBs may be produced when young magnetars eject electromagnetic flares as a result of energetic events occurring on its surface. While this is sure to excite many astrophysicists, it still a mystery that has yet to be solved.

For more information on this, watch this video.