<h2>Bursting Out</h2>
<p>Fast radio bursts (FBRs) are short pulses of radio waves emanating from far beyond our galaxy. Since 2007, researchers have observed more than 60 FRBs, but just one example of a <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-radio-aliens" target="_blank" rel="noopener">repeating FBR</a> — that is, multiple bursts coming from the same source.</p>
<p>No one knows for sure what might be causing the mysterious signals, but theories include everything from <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/these-mysterious-radio-bursts-could-be-coming-from-collapsed-stars" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strange star crusts</a> to <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2124209-could-fast-radio-bursts-really-be-powering-alien-space-ships/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advanced alien civilizations</a>.</p>
<p>Now, a Canadian-led team of scientists has <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/emb_releases/2019-01/mu-cct010619.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added 13 new FBRs</a> to the growing total, including the second-ever known repeater — and the discovery could change not only our understanding of the mysterious signals, but also how we look for them.</p>
<h2>Repeat Feat</h2>
<p>The researchers detail their detection of the 13 new fast radio bursts in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0867-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two</a> <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0864-x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">papers</a> published in the journal <em>Nature</em> on Wednesday.</p>
<p>According to the team, they collected their data using the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), a radio telescope at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in British Columbia, Canada, during a three-week period in the summer of 2018.</p>
<p>In the weeks following that initial period, the team noticed additional pulses from one of the FBRs, making it just the second known repeater to date.</p>
<h2>Clued In</h2>
<p>The CHIME team&#8217;s research does more than reveal that the previously discovered repeating FBR wasn&#8217;t a cosmic anomaly — it also changes what we thought we knew about detecting the phenomena and their sources.</p>
<p>In the past, researchers discovered most FBRs at a frequency near 1400 MHz, but CHIME operates in the 400 MHz to 800 MHz range. The researchers detected some of the new FBRs at the lower end of that range, too, meaning we might be able to detect future FBRs at even lower frequencies.</p>
<p>Most of the newly discovered FRBs also showed signs of a phenomenon known as &#8220;scattering,&#8221; which provides clues into the environment near the source of an FBR.</p>
<p>&#8220;We haven&#8217;t solved the problem [of FBRs],&#8221; CHIME team member Tom Landecker said, &#8220;but it&#8217;s several more pieces in the puzzle.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/login.php?frompage=/emb_releases/2019-01/mu-cct010619.php">Canada&#8217;s CHIME Telescope Detects Second Repeating Fast Radio Burst</a> [<em>EurekAlert</em>]</p>
<p><em><strong>More on FBRs: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-radio-aliens" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AI Just Detected 72 Radio Bursts That Could Come From Aliens</a></strong></em></p>


It turns out that first repeating FRB wasn’t an anomaly

Researchers discover second repeating fast radio burst

Double Trouble

Researchers discover 13 new fast radio bursts (FRBs), including only the second known repeating example of the cosmic phenomenon.

Fast Radio Bursts Could Be Signs of Alien Life — and We Just Found 13 More of Them

The mysterious signals are slowly becoming less mysterious.

<h2>ALIEN AI</h2>
<p>Searching the skies for extraterrestrial life means spending a lot of time separating signals from noise. Luckily, AI is particularly good at that.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.04101">new study</a> accepted by <em>The Astrophysical Journal</em>, researchers describe how they used data previously collected from fast radio bursts (FRBs), a type of mysterious pulse from billions of light years away, to train a neural network to find dozens more in already-collected data.</p>
<h2>THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE</h2>
<p>FRBs, also known as &#8220;cosmic whistles,&#8221; are powerful, short pulses of energy emanating from deep space. Scientists don&#8217;t know what causes them, but they&#8217;ve got some theories — they could be generated by magnetized neutron stars and black holes, or they could be transmissions from an alien society.</p>
<p>FRBs are so brief that they&#8217;re tedious to detect manually. So it makes sense that AI could help.</p>
<p>First, the researchers at the University of California, Berkeley trained their algorithm to detect FRBs using previously recorded bursts. Then they put it to work, feeding it five hours of radio activity collected from a part of the sky that often returns FRB data. In that data the algorithm identified a whopping 72 new FRBs, bringing the number recognized from that single source to about 300.</p>
<h2>NEW FINDINGS</h2>
<p>“This work is exciting not just because it helps us understand the dynamic behavior of fast radio bursts in more detail, but also because of the promise it shows for using machine learning to detect signals missed by classical algorithms,” said Andrew Siemion, director of the Berkeley SETI Research Center and principal investigator of the new paper.</p>
<p>The Berkeley team <a href="http://news.berkeley.edu/2018/09/10/ai-helps-track-down-mysterious-cosmic-radio-bursts/">believes this information</a> could help astronomers home in on the cause of FRBs. They also hope it could inspire others to look for ways to apply AI to radio astronomy.</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="http://news.berkeley.edu/2018/09/10/ai-helps-track-down-mysterious-cosmic-radio-bursts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AI Helps Track Down Mysterious Cosmic Radio Bursts</a> [Berkeley News]</p>
<p><em><strong>More on FRBs: <a href="https://futurism.com/fast-radio-bursts-unique-property-help-determine-source/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fast Radio Bursts Have a Unique Property That Can Help Us Determine Their Source</a></strong></em></p>


It's tedious for humans to sift through all that data, but really easy for AI.

AI just detected 72 radio bursts that could come from aliens

Off World

An AI just discovered an additionally 72 fast radio bursts emanating from FRB 121102, a source in a galaxy 3 billion light years from Earth.

AI Just Detected 72 Radio Bursts That Could Come From Aliens

AI can sift through hours of radio noise for signals that may indicate intelligent alien life.

<h2>Signal Boost</h2>
<p>Over the past decade, we&#8217;ve found out a great deal about what <a href="https://futurism.com/fast-radio-bursts-unique-property-help-determine-source/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fast radio bursts</a> (FRBs) are — millisecond-long blips of intense radio emissions from deep space — but their origins remain a mystery. Now, astronomers have tracked a repeating FRB to a dwarf galaxy nearly three billion lightyears from Earth, according to a report from the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/01/10/scientists-zoom-in-on-fast-radio-bursts-the-most-mysterious-signals-in-space/?utm_term=.ba144a87012b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p>The international team, which presented its work at the annual American Astronomical Society meeting in January 2018, observed that the radio beam was being contorted by a <a href="https://futurism.com/new-images-reveal-quickly-earths-magnetic-field-changing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">magnetic field</a> within a cloud of ionized gas, telling us more about the conditions these bursts take place in. The study detailing the team&#8217;s results was recently published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25149.epdf?referrer_access_token=oqP2xHNpcYqzqBKHX_ZldtRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0Myd0zy_Q0HgwPgkfTCX6eGjyQmKe2eLEqTv373amuuRd7uum3XzqJ2MiQafiO0G0lxNYTHLvwnBBkcDogLvvXMmXZaZ-EV0bNGE7xsWq7Uzv_Mu9xsGhLi29QF1h_KMiPExvlbe78SjXh1qFPZCnSHcSHGxssP_-0I-pldk7b-ZD-YrlcxULMVE4UszbcjznELiDMk455dP3ck0CNFOhGpnqr0v-NH2qlV49f3KLXB_xHMXnMQHyfPUxBiqPP29ZLAn57uTNrXvxOQxysOw2pXSFO5J2u8S53YIAI_WOVIQxINODYiepTJ8ZFIbz_E_HFHW1jaG3UDiY_Lm2JKSJsd&amp;tracking_referrer=www.washingtonpost.com"><em>Nature</em></a>.</p>
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<p>&#8220;We see a sort of &#8216;twisting&#8217; of the radio bursts caused by an effect known as Faraday rotation,&#8221; <a href="https://www.astron.nl/astronomy-group/people/jason-w-t-hessels/jason-w-t-hessels">Jason Hessels</a>, one of the co-authors of the study from the <span class="current-selection">Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy</span>, told Futurism. &#8220;We hypothesize that the source of the bursts could be a neutron star in the proximity of a massive black hole that is accreting material from its surroundings, or maybe that it is a very young neutron star embedded in a nebula (a sort of cocoon around the source).&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;We are basically pushing forward and zooming in even further on where these fast radio bursts are coming from,&#8221; co-author Shami Chatterjee, a senior research associate from the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, told Futurism.</p>
<h2>The Mystery of Fast Radio Bursts</h2>
<p>When FRBs were first observed, there was some debate as to whether they were legitimate phenomena, or simply interference that was being misinterpreted. Further study established that they are indeed real — just <a href="https://futurism.com/mysterious-signals-scientists-detected-the-brightest-burst-of-fast-radio-waves-to-date/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">very difficult to observe</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;The biggest issue is the fact that these are millisecond flashes of radiation, and we don&#8217;t know where they&#8217;re going to go off in the sky,&#8221; said Chatterjee. &#8220;We think that there&#8217;s between five and ten thousand of these flashes going off everyday all over the sky, and yet so far we know only about thirty of these sources. That gives you a sense of the difficulty in terms of finding them, because they just last a millisecond. Radio telescopes don&#8217;t have a large field of view; if you&#8217;re not looking at the right place in the right time, you won&#8217;t see it.&#8221;</p>
<p>The first repeating FRB source was <a href="https://futurism.com/real-life-contact-fast-radio-bursts-or-alien-morse-code/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spotted in 2016</a>, which provided a much-needed benchmark in the astronomy community&#8217;s quest to pinpoint where these phenomena are taking place in order to observe them.</p>
<p>FRBs have <a href="https://futurism.com/mysterious-signals-from-space-continue-to-baffle-scientists/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">captured the imagination of theorists</a> — Chatterjee notes that there are more theories about them than recorded observations — because of the enormous amount of energy involved. In about a millisecond, a burst emits about as much energy as our sun puts out in a day, depending on how broadly it&#8217;s being beamed.</p>
<p>&#8220;The hope is that eventually, this leads to a step forward in our understanding of physics, in terms of what is a mechanism that can produce this kind of a radio flash with that much energy that we can detect across the universe,&#8221; said Chatterjee. &#8220;Beyond that, the hope is that once we understand what these radio flashes are, we can use them as tools to study the intergalactic medium.&#8221;</p>


Scientists are one step closer to understanding the source of fast radio bursts, thanks to observing a repeating burst three billion lightyears from Earth.

Scientists are tracing the source of one of the most mysterious signals in space

Scientists observed a repeating fast radio burst three billion lightyears from Earth. The discovery gives clues about the source of these mysterious bursts.

Scientists Are Tracing the Source of One of the Most Mysterious Signals in Space

"We are zooming in even further on where these fast radio bursts are coming from."

<h2>Twisted Signals</h2>
<p><a href="https://futurism.com/researchers-have-found-15-new-cosmic-whistles-unlike-any-weve-detected-before/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fast radio bursts (FRBs)</a> can be found alongside <a href="https://futurism.com/one-step-closer-dark-matter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dark matter</a>, <a href="https://futurism.com/this-year-black-hole-first-time-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">black holes</a>, and <a href="https://futurism.com/theres-a-new-possible-explanation-for-the-weird-light-behavior-of-the-alien-megastructure-star/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tabby&#8217;s Star</a> on the list of the most baffling and intriguing space phenomena. Now, a discovery about the most well-studied FRB could reveal new insights into these strange radio signals from space.</p>
<p>FRBs are extremely powerful and can generate as much energy as 500 million Suns. However, they are also very short in duration, lasting just milliseconds. We know of about 30 FRBs, but the only one observed repeating its activity is FRB 121102. This repetition has allowed researchers to determine that the signals are originating from a dwarf galaxy more than 3 billion light-years from Earth.</p>
<p>Using data collected by the <a href="http://outreach.naic.edu/ao/landing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Arecibo Observatory</a> in Puerto Rico, an international team of researchers has discovered that the signals emanating from FRB 121102 are immensely twisted. That means they must be passing through a powerful magnetic field, further narrowing down the potential source.</p>
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<p>According to the team&#8217;s study, which has been published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25149" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>Nature</i></a>, the most likely source of FRB 121102 is a neutron star, and the high level of rotation observed in its signals narrows down the environment of that star to a few possibilities.</p>
<p>Researchers have only observed a comparable level of rotation in one other place: near massive black holes. Thus, close proximity to such a black hole is the leading theory as to FRB 121102&#8217;s environment). However, the researchers have also provided some alternative possible locales, such as within a highly magnetized wind nebula or surrounded by a supernova remnant.</p>
<p>Those are just a few potential explanations, and the team is confident that other researchers will soon build on this new data and share their own hypotheses. “In the coming weeks, we expect that very creative theorists are going to come up with explanations that we haven’t thought of yet,” Jason Hessels of the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/01/mystery-radio-burst-frb121102-magnetism-space-science/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told <i>National Geographic</i></a><i>.</i></p>
<h2>Curiouser and Curiouser</h2>
<p>Because it repeats, FRB 121102 is a unique instance of an already unusual phenomenon. Finding out that its signal has a rotation that is, in fact, amongst the strongest ever observed, just adds to its cosmic strangeness.</p>
<p>If further study proves that the source of FRB 121102 is located near a black hole, it could help us learn more about the Galactic Centre, the dynamic region near the massive black hole at the center of our own galaxy. Conversely, learning that it&#8217;s a neutron star within a wind nebula or a supernova remnant could reveal new insights about those interstellar phenomena.</p>
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<p>Though far less likely, the uniqueness of FRBs within the natural world has led some (including a <a href="https://futurism.com/harvard-scientists-say-fast-radio-bursts-could-be-evidence-of-alien-life/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pair of Harvard astrophysicists)</a> to consider an artificial origin. In other words, aliens. This new information on the twist of FRB 121102&#8217;s signal makes it even more unusual within the framework of our current understanding of the universe, so some of the explanations Hessels believes are forthcoming could lean into this extraterrestrial origin theory.</p>
<p>2007 marked the first discovery of an FRB, but the first instance of FRB 121102 repeating wasn&#8217;t detected until 2015. In just a few short years, researchers have been able to narrow down its source to not only a specific galaxy within the whole universe — but now, to a specific environment within that galaxy. With each new advance in technology, we get one step closer to solving the mystery of this strange space phenomenon, and eventually, it may cease to be a mystery at all.</p>


An international team of researchers discovered the signals emanating from FRB 121102 are immensely twisted.

Fast Radio Bursts have a unique property that can help us determine their source

Hard Science

Researchers have discovered the waves from FRB 121102 are highly twisted, suggesting they must be passing through a powerful magnetic field.

Fast Radio Bursts Have a Unique Property That Can Help Us Determine Their Source

We're one step closer to understanding this mysterious space phenomenon.

<h2>Mysterious Bursts</h2>
<p>In February of 2015, the Parkes radio telescope in Australia detected some fast radio bursts (FRB) that have fascinated astronomers ever since. Dubbed &#8220;cosmic whistles,&#8221; an FRB is a quick flash of energy seen as split-second intergalactic radio wave blips. FRB 150215, however, seems to be different from previously recorded bursts.</p>
<p>What makes FRB 150215 even more intriguing is that it doesn&#8217;t seem to leave any signal or trace of light behind. The Parkes researchers used 11 telescopes in an attempt to spot &#8220;radio, optical, X-ray, gamma-ray, and neutrino emission&#8221; from these signals — but none were found. &#8220;Neither transient nor variable emission was found to be associated with the burst, and no repeat pulses have been observed in 17.25 hours of observing,&#8221; the researchers<a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.02911" target="_blank"> report in a new study</a> (which has yet to be peer reviewed).</p>
<p>How could such <a href="https://futurism.com/mysterious-radio-signals-may-be-1-billion-times-more-energetic-than-we-thought/" target="_blank">high energy bursts</a> not leave any traces? As if that wasn&#8217;t mysterious enough, consider that in order for FRB 150215 to have been detected at all, it had to go through a rather dense region of the Milky Way. This means that it shouldn&#8217;t have been detectable in the first place.</p>
<figure style="width: 798px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/05/signal-1.jpg" alt="Image credit: Emily Petroff" width="798" height="255" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><em>The big blip that is FRB 150215. Image credit: Emily Petroff</em></figcaption></figure>
<h2>We&#8217;ll See Them. . .Eventually</h2>
<p>FRBs were first discovered in 2007, and since then, there have been 22 known FRB occurrences. It was only earlier this year that scientists  <a href="https://futurism.com/powerful-radio-signals-are-coming-from-a-galaxy-three-billion-light-years-away/" target="_blank">finally identified the source of one of these FRBs</a>: some distant dwarf galaxy. Back in April, <a href="https://futurism.com/confirmed-mysterious-bursts-of-energy-really-are-coming-from-outer-space/" target="_blank">another group of scientists confirmed</a> that FRBs are indeed coming from space.</p>
<p>As we develop more advanced tools with which to see and hear the universe, the probability of discovering what <em>really</em> caused theses signals is improving. For one, new and better space telescopes like <a href="https://futurism.com/the-massive-james-webb-space-telescope-just-moved-one-step-closer-to-launch/" target="_blank">the James Webb</a> will give us a view of our cosmic surroundings like we&#8217;ve never seen before.</p>
<p>When we do see them, no doubt we&#8217;ll definitely be in for a surprise. For now, though, astronomers are putting in additional work to better understand the phenomenon. “It’s not very often in science that you get to work on something that’s so brand new and so unknown that you get to answer the fundamental questions,” researcher<a href="http://gizmodo.com/the-newest-cosmic-radio-burst-has-stumped-scientists-1795068113?IR=T" target="_blank"> Emily Petroff told </a><i><a href="http://gizmodo.com/the-newest-cosmic-radio-burst-has-stumped-scientists-1795068113?IR=T" target="_blank">Gizmodo</a></i>. “It’s exciting to be in these very early stages of the field when you can make a big impact with your research and answer these really big questions.</p>


radar station

FRB 150215, the most recent "cosmic whistle" that's been detected, appears to be different from other FRBs that have been discovered in the last decade.

Mysterious Signals From Space Continue to Baffle Scientists

We’ve received 22 in the past decade, and one should have been completely undetectable.

<h2>Pinpointing Cosmic Sources</h2>
<p>Since the first fast radio burst was discovered in 2007, the phenomenon has been a particular point of interest for scientists, astronomy enthusiasts, and even those looking for signs of extraterrestrial life. The discovery took six years to be deciphered from data collected in 2001, which is a clue into just how puzzling these bursts are.</p>
<p>A fast radio burst is a bright flash of radio light energy that only lasts for mere milliseconds. The bursts are among the most luminous phenomena we&#8217;ve ever detected in the Milky Way galaxy. They contain as much energy as the sun produces in an entire day.</p>
<p>Scientists are not sure where these bursts are coming from. Even more, until this latest development, we could not even be sure that they were originating from space. Scientists have suggested that the bursts originate during the <a href="https://futurism.com/cosmic-whistles-new-clues-about-one-of-the-most-puzzling-cosmic-phenomenon/">formation of a black hole</a> when two neutron stars collide. Others worried that the bursts could be the result of interference here on Earth.</p>
<p>Scientists from Harvard have even recently suggested that fast radio bursts could be <a href="https://futurism.com/harvard-scientists-say-fast-radio-bursts-could-be-evidence-of-alien-life/">evidence of alien life</a>. Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for astrophysics thinks that &#8220;An artificial origin is worth contemplating and checking.&#8221;</p>
<p>This brings us to the work of Manisha Caleb, a PhD candidate at Australian National University. She has been working on a way to parse through all of the data and attempt to gather information on where the fast radio bursts come from. Figuring out the location of their origin could help to nail down how they come into existence.</p>
<figure style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img src="https://explorist.futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/04/FRBnotEarth_web_1024-1024x415.jpg" alt="CSIRO/Harvard/Swinburne Astronomy Productions" width="1024" height="415" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: CSIRO/Harvard/Swinburne Astronomy Productions</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Answers from a Supercomputer</h2>
<p>Caleb worked specifically on developing software that can effectively search through the 1,000 TB of data that is produced by the Molongolo telescope. This telescope is the perfect tool for studying fast radio bursts as its collecting area is immense at 18,000 square meters (nearly 21,528 square yards). The telescope was recently upgraded specifically for the detection of fast radio bursts as well as to research pulsars.</p>
<p>Researchers have realized that this telescope could at least place a minimum distance on detected bursts given its unique architecture. And, since the telescope is incapable of detecting signals from here on Earth, Molongolo detecting any fast radio bursts prove that they are cosmic in origin and cannot be attributed to any terrestrial interference.</p>
<p>While the data has only so far confirmed a single link of a previously discovered burst to a small dwarf galaxy 3 billion light-years from Earth, we at least now know they are indeed cosmic in nature. “Figuring out where the bursts come from is the key to understanding what makes them. Only one burst has been linked to a specific galaxy,” say Caleb. “We expect Molonglo will do this for many more bursts.”</p>
<p>The telescope will continue to be upgraded to better assist in discovering the origins of these mysterious signals. It may not lead to our first alien contact, but it definitely will give us a better understanding of the mechanics of our universe.</p>


Teams of researchers are working together to try to explain fast radio bursts. The latest development proves that these ultra-luminous signals are indeed coming from space and are not the result of any interference here on Earth.

Confirmed: Mysterious Bursts of Energy Really Are Coming From Outer Space

Now, we need to figure out what’s causing them.

<p><b></b><a href="https://futurism.com/cosmic-fast-radio-burst-frb-seen-real-time/" target="_blank">Fast radio bursts</a> (FRB) are flashes of energy that happen in just a millisecond. According to a study <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf6807">published in <i>Science</i></a>, the brightest FRB to date was recently discovered by a team of scientists led by Vikram Ravi of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and Ryan Shannon from the CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science in Epping, NSW, Australia.</p>
<p>FRBs contain energy equal to that produced by the sun in one day, and their origins are still largely unknown. Scientists are unable to explain their actual causes, although <a href="https://futurism.com/radio-flashes-deep-space-sighted-mystify-astrophysicists/" target="_blank">studies are not lacking</a>, a <a href="http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2016-news/Fox11-2016">recent one</a> was even able to associate an FRB with an accompanying gamma-ray burst.</p>
<figure style="width: 660px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img style="width: 100%" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/11/magnetar-artist-conception.jpg" alt="An artist's conception of FRBs. Credits: NASA" width="660" height="445" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">An artist&#8217;s conception of FRBs. Credits:<i> NASA</i></figcaption></figure>
<p>Ravi&#8217;s team managed to capture the brightest ever FRB recorded. It was so bright that they were able to locate the source of the event, using two of their detectors simultaneously, with more precision than previous attempts. Their calculations narrowed down the flash&#8217;s source to several possible sites, with a galaxy called VHS7 as the most probable.</p>
<p>The researchers were able to calculate the magnetic field between the Earth and the VHS7 by analyzing the change in wavelength and polarization of the FRB during the burst. While FBR&#8217;s still remain mysterious, this study can better inform our models of the structure our universe, in large-scale.</p>


A brilliant burst of energy, brighter than any before, was detected by astronomers and may have led to its site of origin.
The cause of this fascinating phenomenon is unknown, but this latest iteration may lead us to greater understanding of the structure of our universe. 

Mysterious Signals: Scientists Detected the Brightest Burst of Fast Radio Waves to Date

And it could reveal the large-scale structure of the universe.

<h2><b></b>A spot-on clue</h2>
<p>Ever since <a href="https://futurism.com/?s=fast+radio+bursts" target="_blank">fast radio bursts</a> (FRB) — or &#8220;cosmic whistles&#8221; — were <a href="http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2014/0514-the-case-of-the-5-millisecond-cosmic-radio-burst.html" target="_blank">discovered in 2007</a>, they have become one of the most mysterious sounds our universe produces. FRBs generate as much energy as the Sun does in one day, except they do so in a matter of milliseconds. What makes them more bizarre is that, despite <a href="https://futurism.com/radio-flashes-deep-space-sighted-mystify-astrophysicists/" target="_blank">many attempts</a>, scientists still can&#8217;t quite figure out <a href="https://futurism.com/real-life-contact-fast-radio-bursts-or-alien-morse-code/" target="_blank">where they come from</a>.</p>
<p>For more than a decade now, there have only been a little over a dozen FRBs detected. These seem to be as sparse as they are as brief. The difficulty lies partly in how FRBs can be detected. So far, it&#8217;s only possible using radio wave emissions caught by <a href="http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/glossary/radio_telescope.html" target="_blank">radio telescopes</a> — that is, until recently. In a study published in <i><a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8205/832/1/L1" target="_blank">The Astrophysical Journal Letters</a></i>, James DeLaunay and a team from Pennsylvania State University reported that they caught a transient gamma ray counterpart to an FRB.</p>
<h2>FRB 131104</h2>
<figure style="width: 405px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="" style="width: 334px;height: 471px" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/11/Screen-Shot-2016-11-16-at-11.28.06-PM.png" alt="FRB 131104 and its gamma-ray. Credits: DeLaunay et al." width="405" height="553" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">FRB 131104 and its accompanying gamma-ray. Credits: <i>DeLaunay et al.</i></figcaption></figure>
<p>Prior to DeLaunay&#8217;s study, FRBs seemed impossible across any parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, with no visible light or X-ray emissions. &#8220;I started this search for FRB counterparts without expecting to find anything,&#8221; <a href="http://www.sciencealert.com/we-finally-have-a-clue-about-what-s-causing-explosive-mysterious-signals-from-space" target="_blank">said DeLaunay</a>. &#8220;This burst was the first that even had useful data to analyze. When I saw that it showed a possible gamma-ray counterpart, I couldn&#8217;t believe my luck!&#8221;</p>
<p>The FRB was discovered on November 4, 2013, and quite by chance. That day, NASA&#8217;s Earth orbiting Swift satellite was aimed at a patch of sky which happened to be the target of the Parkes Observatory, a radio telescope in Australia. Parkes recorded the FRB, while Swift detected a gamma-ray burst at the exact same place and time — something DeLaunay later realized.</p>
<p>The gamma-ray bursts outshone the radio emissions more than a billion times, and lasted about two to six minutes, far longer than the accompanying FRB&#8217;s milliseconds.</p>
<p>This provides a huge clue about how FRBs are generated. It also supports the idea that FRBs happen during the black hole-forming collision of two neutron stars. &#8220;The problem is that no existing models predict that we would see an FRB in these cases,&#8221; <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-11/ps-cwp111016.php" target="_blank">researcher Derek Fox explained</a>.</p>
<p>Clearly, there&#8217;s a lot we don&#8217;t know about it yet. But this is a step forward, to be followed by finding other evidence of such an occurrence. We are slowly getting a better understanding of the complexities of our universe.</p>


A team from Pennsylvania State University reports that they caught a transient gamma ray counterpart to a cosmic whistle known as FRB 131104.
This discovery supports the idea that FRBs happen during the black hole-forming collision of two neutron stars.

/Fast Radio Bursts

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