Scientists have found a really powerful burst of radio waves from very far away. These bursts, called Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), are quick flashes of radio waves that last just a tiny fraction of a second. The first one was discovered in 2007, and since then, we’ve detected hundreds from different parts of the universe.
This latest burst, named FRB 20220610A, lasted even less than a blink of an eye. But in that incredibly short time, it released as much energy as our sun gives off in 30 years!
These bursts are hard to study because they’re so fast. Scientists used a special group of telescopes in Australia, called the ASKAP array, to spot this burst in June 2022. This helped them figure out where it came from.
Dr. Stuart Ryder, who helps with this study, explained that with the help of the ASKAP telescope array, they could figure out exactly where the burst came from. After that, they used a powerful telescope in Chile, called the Very Large Telescope, to look for the galaxy where it came from. They discovered that this galaxy is really old and much farther away than any other source of these bursts found so far. It’s also likely part of a small group of galaxies that are merging together.
The team of scientists tracked down the burst to a group of two or three galaxies that are coming together, creating new stars in the process. This supports the idea that these bursts might come from really powerful objects called magnetars, which are born from star explosions.
Scientists think that fast radio bursts could help us figure out how much stuff is in the universe, especially the bits between galaxies that we haven’t been able to account for yet.
Ryan Shannon, one of the researchers, explained, “When we add up all the regular stuff in the Universe — the atoms that make up everything around us — we notice that more than half of what should be there is missing.” They believe this missing stuff is spread out in the space between galaxies, but it might be so hot and spread out that we can’t see it using normal methods.
The methods we currently use to guess how much the universe weighs don’t match up, suggesting we might be overlooking a big part of the universe.
“Fast radio bursts can detect this spread-out material,” said Shannon. “Even in space that’s nearly empty, they can ‘see’ all the electrons, which helps us measure how much stuff is between the galaxies.”
Astronomers have found a way to use fast radio bursts to locate missing matter in the universe. This method was first shown by the late Australian astronomer Jean-Pierre Macquart in 2020. He discovered that the farther away a fast radio burst is, the more spread-out gas it reveals between galaxies. This is now known as the Macquart relation.
About 50 fast radio bursts have been traced back to where they came from, and almost half of them were found using ASKAP, a group of telescopes in Australia. Although we still don’t know what causes these powerful bursts, this study confirms that they happen quite often in the universe. This means we can use them to find matter between galaxies and learn more about how the universe is organized.
Scientists are excited about up coming telescopes being built in South Africa and Australia. These telescopes should help us detect thousands more fast radio bursts from even farther away.
“The fact that FRBs are so common is also amazing,” said Ryan Shannon, one of the researchers. “It shows how promising the field can be. Instead of studying just 30 bursts, we could study 30,000 bursts, create a new map of the universe’s structure, and use it to answer big questions about cosmology.”
SOURCE:CNN