The next surprise: Radio flash from "dead" galaxy does not match others
For years, high-energy energy flashes have kept astronomers guessing, with one theory emerging most recently. A discovery now contradicts it.
The Fast Radio Burst was discovered with the CHIME radio telescope
(Image: CHIME, Andre Renard, Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto)
The mystery surrounding the mysterious fast radio bursts has taken another twist: for the first time, one of these extremely energetic radio bursts has been traced back to the edge of an old and “dead” elliptical galaxy. This is an unprecedented home for a phenomenon that has recently been associated with much younger galaxies and processes that only take place there. The research team can only speculate as to where exactly the localized radio flash came from. They suspect it came from a globular cluster, which they would like to verify with the James Webb Space Telescope. If this is not the case, they would have to use “alternative exotic explanations”.
Quite different from the rest
As the research team explains, hypotheses have recently gained popularity according to which fast radio bursts (FRB) have their origin in so-called magnetars, which are formed during a so-called core-collapse supernova. However, only young, massive stars would end up like this, of which there is no evidence in the galaxy of the FRB now being investigated. It is therefore a recurring radio burst with the designation RB 20240209A, which means it was discovered in February 2024. It is therefore one of almost 100 FRBs that could be traced back to a specific galaxy. At 130,000 light years, however, the source is much further from the center of its home galaxy than all the others.
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Fast Radio Bursts have been discovered since 2007 and there has been much speculation about their origin. One of the most exotic speculations was that they could be traces of extraterrestrial spaceships. During these short but extremely violent bursts of radiation, more energy is emitted within fractions of a second than our sun generates in a year. Since 2012, periodic FRBs have been discovered time and again, and much hope has been pinned on them in the search for their origins. The localization of an FRB far out in a galaxy, where there are no young stars, presented in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, once again indicates that not all radio bursts are created by the same processes.
The radio burst now studied “makes it clear that just when you think you have understood a phenomenon, the universe turns around and surprises us,” says Wen-fai Fong from Northwestern University, who led the analysis. This “dialog” with the universe is what makes astronomy so incredibly exciting. Her team adds that previously there was only one FRB that could be traced back to the outer edge of a galaxy. Otherwise, however, there were some differences. However, the FRB had its origin in a globular cluster, which was quite unexpected. Because no other was discovered, it was thought to be an isolated case. This has now turned out to be wrong.
(mho)
