We've Tracked 5 Mysterious Fast Radio Bursts to The Arms of Distant Spiral Galaxies

[Judi Lynn]

DAVID NIELD 22 MAY 2021

The mystery of fast radio bursts (FRBs) continues to fascinate astronomers. No one is quite sure what's behind these super-short, super-intense radio wave pulses from deep space, but now astronomers have tracked down five FRBs to their home galaxies.

It's the Hubble Space Telescope that has come up with the goods again. The ultraviolet and infrared cameras on the telescope were used to see where on a star map these five bursts emerged from, which gives us a better understanding of how they might have come into being in the first place.

Before now, only around 15 of the thousand or so FRBs detected to date have been traced back to particular galaxies, so the tracking done on this cluster of bursts is an important indicator of how the phenomenon works.

"Our results are new and exciting," says astronomer Alexandra Mannings, from the University of California, Santa Cruz. "This is the first high-resolution view of a population of FRBs, and Hubble reveals that five of them are localized near or on a galaxy's spiral arms. Most of the galaxies are massive, relatively young, and still forming stars."

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/five-more-fast-radio-bursts-have-been-tracked-down-to-their-home-galaxies

[HUAJIAO]

1. Thanks.. this will stay in my mind all day. :)) breathtaking..