Earth is Receiving frequent space signals that contain important information about extremely energetic events. The most funny is the brief pulses of high-energy radio waves, known as fast radio burst (FRB). Astronomers compare them to a powerful lighthouse that glows for a mixed mixed in the middle of a thick, distant sea. It is an achievement in itself to detect one of these signs, but identifying its origin and understanding the nature of its source is one of the great challenges of science.
This is why recent research led by Northwestern University in the United States has attracted the attention of the astronomical community. The team not only detected one of the most bright FRBs ever, but also with unprecedented accuracy.
Pulse, known as RBFLOAT, arrived in March 2025, just lasted a few milliseconds, and released more energy as producing the sun in four days. Thanks to a new method of analysis, researchers have located their origin in one hand of a spiral galaxy located 130 million light-year away in the direction of Nakshatra Ursa Major. Was published in research journal The astrophysical journal letters.
Chime Radio Telescope in Canada, one of the world’s leading FRB observatory, and a subnetwork of small stations, is called Outarigar, discovered the anomalous outbreak. Chime explained the characteristics of the signal, while Outurgar took it to a narrow area of space. Optical and X-ray telescope then provided supplementary data. Within the Galaxy NGC 4141, the team acquired the accuracy of 13 parcec equal to 42 light-year.
Astronomers had earlier indicated other FRBs, but the signals were repeated in those cases, making the analysis easier. In a university statement, “RBFLOAT was the first non-dolar source localized for such accuracy.” “These are very difficult to find out. Thus, even detection of RBFLOAT is also a proof of the concept that the chime is actually capable of detecting such events and building statistically interesting samples of FRB.”
What is the reason for rbfloat?
Scientists still do not believe what is the reason for RBFS, but they have some ideas. They release due to heavy energy and the briefness of the event, it is likely that they arise from extreme cosmic events, such as neutron star merger, magnetar or pulsar.
In the case of RBFloat, data indicates that it is actually located in a star making area with large -scale stars. The triangle indicates in a gingic arm where new stars are also born. This suggests that it can be a magnetar, a subcontinent of the neutron star, which is billions of times more with a magnetic field, which is stronger than the Earth.
Experience with RBFloat will allow the team to apply the same triangular technique for future signals. Authors estimate that they can get about 200 accurate RBF detections per year, with only signal chime captures.
Another member of the team Yaksin Dong said, “Over the years, we know that FRBs are in the whole sky, but pinning them down has slowed down laborly. Now, we can regularly tie them into specific galaxies, even down to the neighborhoods within those galaxies.”
The story was originally appeared on Wired N Espanol and has been translated from Spanish.
