Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs)

Mysterious bursts of radio light that last only a few milliseconds and have an origin that is yet unknown.

Radio telescopes observing the night sky. (Credit: Alex Cherney)

Radio telescopes observing the night sky. (Credit: Alex Cherney)

FRBs are extremely bright pulses of radio emission that last a few milliseconds. The dispersion measure is a method that astronomers use to estimate the distance to astronomical objects. FRBs have large dispersion measures, which place them far beyond the edge of our galaxy, suggesting they have an extragalactic origin.

Only around 30 FRBs have ever been observed, and all except one originate from different locations in the sky. It wasn't until 2014 when an FRB was observed at the same location where another one had already happened, that helped to establish a small dwarf galaxy as the source of this repeating FRB.

 

Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

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