5 fast radio bursts of unknown origin "skewer" a neighboring Hungarian

lifestyle

by Gene Hers

April 13, 2023 | 6:45 p.m

Astronomers in the Netherlands have detected five new fast radio bursts in the universe after upgrading their telescope to become “one of the most powerful” in the world.

These bursts of radio waves last a fraction of a millisecond, but they are some of the brightest explosions in the universe, so powerful they can be seen by telescopes more than four billion light-years away, according to Study press release.

The team reports that three FBRs — one of which packs ten trillion times the amount of energy consumed around the world in one year — have “deformed” our neighboring triangular galaxy.

It’s unclear exactly where the FBRs come from—some scientists think they’re from neutron stars while others hypothesize more exotic origins—because their fleeting nature has made them difficult to study closely, until now.

“We now have an instrument with a very wide field of view and very sharp vision,” principal investigator Joeri van Leeuwen said in a statement. “And all of this is live. This is new and exciting.”

Astronomers have detected five new fast radio bursts in the universe.

Jingchuan Yu, Beijing Planetarium

“We now have an instrument with a very wide field of view and very sharp vision,” principal investigator Joeri van Leeuwen said in a statement.

Olsztyn Bild via Getty Images

the findings, Published in the journal Astronomy and astrophysics on Wednesday were made possible by a new supercomputer and upgraded receivers on their telescope in Westerbork.

“One cannot buy the complex electronics you need for this,” said system engineer Eric Koestra. “We designed most of the system ourselves, with a great team. This resulted in an advanced machine, one of the most powerful in the world.”

With the latest technology, scientists hope that phenomena will be increasingly identifiable, as shown in the new report.

The results also allowed the researchers to investigate the number of “invisible” electrons in the Triangulum galaxy by observing how the burst of light distorts as it cuts through space, thus shedding more light on the molecular structure of the universe.

It’s unclear exactly where the FBRs come from – some scientists think they radiate from neutron stars while others hypothesize more exotic origins.

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Astronomers have recorded a number of fast radio bursts since 2007, according to Space.comAfter the advent of ultramodern telescopes.

In June 2021, it was announced that Canadian researchers had detected more than 500 fast radio explosions over a 12-month period between 2018 and 2019, The Post previously reported.

In 2019, astrophysicists were able to locate a fast radio burst for the first time, from a distant galaxy that was several billion light-years away.