Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are rapid flashes of radio waves from deep space that are as intense as they are mysterious.
Astronomers have now traced the origin of the most powerful and farthest-traveling FRB ever, reaching a group of seven tightly connected galaxies, giving researchers the chance to discover these strange lights. gave insight into the different environments that can produce radiation.
New images reveal that the burst, named FRB 20220610A, originated somewhere within the star cluster. hubble space telescope Analysis carried out by an international team of researchers suggests that these interactions may play a role in the occurrence of the burst.
This particular transmission already refuses to fit into some of the most widely accepted theories we have about how the universe works, and astrophysicists are wondering how FRBs work. We are pausing to consider under what conditions it will form.
“Without Hubble’s images, it will remain a mystery whether this FRB arose from one monolithic galaxy or some kind of interacting system.” To tell Alexa Gordon, an astronomer at Northwestern University.
“It’s these kinds of environments, these strange environments, that drive us to a deeper understanding of the Fed’s mysteries.”
To give you an idea of how far the FRB has traveled, the universe is currently about 13.8 billion years old. The signal we’re getting from FRB 20220610A comes from when the universe was just 5 billion years old.
Early observations led researchers to believe that multiple galaxies were involved, due to an amorphous mass visible near the origin of the FRB. But the count of 7 was a surprise.These galaxies are also densely packed – they could all fit inside our galaxy milky way.
The fact that these galaxies exist in such close proximity means that they are likely interacting in specific ways. If stars are being born one after another, this may explain the Fed’s strength.
“There are some signs that members of the group are interacting.” To tell Wen-Fai Feng, an astrophysicist at Northwestern University. “In other words, the two companies could be trading materials or heading down the path to a merger.”
“These galaxy clusters, called compact groups, are incredibly rare environments in the universe and are the densest galaxy-scale structures we know of.”
FRBs continue to surprise and intrigue scientists, with changes in their signals and questions about their origins. The best guess at the moment is that they emerge from cosmic objects like neutron stars or black holes.
This study is a reminder that as our telescopes improve and allow us to see the universe at higher resolution, we should be able to answer more questions about these mysterious signals. I’ll give it to you.
“Once we have more samples of distant FRBs, we can begin to study the evolution of FRBs and the properties of their hosts by linking them with more nearby FRBs, and perhaps begin to identify more bizarre populations.” You might even be able to do that.” To tell Don.
The study is available on a preprint server arXiv.
