--- title: "Astronomers Intrigued by 25 Mysterious Repeating Radio Signals From Deep Space" description: "A team of astronomers has discovered a total of 25 different fast radio bursts, extremely powerful pulses of radio waves, that repeat in complex patterns." date: "2023-02-02" modified: "2023-02-03" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/astronomers-25-radio-signals-deep-space" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "CHIME" - "fast radio bursts" - "FRBs" - "the digest" --- # Astronomers Intrigued by 25 Mysterious Repeating Radio Signals From Deep Space ![A team of astronomers has discovered a total of 25 different fast radio bursts, extremely powerful pulses of radio waves, that repeat in complex patterns.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## CHIME Nor Reason A team of astronomers has discovered 25 [fast radio bursts]() (FRBs), which are mysterious and extremely powerful pulses of radio waves that repeat in complex patterns, [*Universe Today* reports](). The astronomers observed the repeating FRBs in data captured between 2019 and 2021 by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) radio observatory in British Columbia, Canada. Ever since the first FRB was detected back in 2007, astronomers have been trying to get behind the source of the perplexing phenomenon. To this day, we can only hazard a guess as to why they occur, with [some arguing]() that pulsars, which highly magnetically charged neutron stars, may be the source. The new data will likely only add to the mystery in the short term. But it could also bring us one step closer to an answer. ## Active Bursts Using an algorithm, Ziggy Pleunis, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto and lead author of a [yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper](), and his colleagues discovered 25 new repeating sources while examining a [previously created sample catalog of FRBs](), which contained more than 500 detected events by CHIME. Up until now, only 29 out of a total of 1,000 FRBs detected to date were found to be repeating, according to *Universe Today*, which means the new data could nearly double the number of known repeating FRBs. "When we carefully count all our fast radio bursts and the sources that repeat we find that only about 2.6 percent of all fast radio bursts that we discover repeat," Pleunis told the publication. "For many of the new sources we have detected only a few bursts, which makes the sources quite inactive. Almost as inactive as the sources that we have only seen once." "It is possible that all fast radio burst sources eventually repeat, but that many sources are not very active," he added. Many of these repeating patterns are still proving extremely difficult to classify, making them even more elusive. But as astronomers build out a rapidly increasing dataset of these bursts, in addition to some extremely large radio telescopes being built like the Square Kilometer Array Observatory in Australia and South Africa, we could soon finally get some answers. *Updated to note that the Square Kilometer Ray also includes observatories in South Africa.* **READ MORE:** [Astronomers Find 25 Fast Radio Bursts That Repeat on a Regular Basis]() \[*Universe Today*\] **More on FRBs:** *[MIT Scientists Discover Deep Space Signal, Pulsing Like Heartbeat]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()