2024-01-09 19:29:14
This fast radio burst (FRB) is the most powerful, but also the most distant ever observed. And now, it is also the one whose origin is the most surprising. Researchers have just located it at the heart of a dense group of no fewer than seven galaxies.
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[EN VIDÉO] Repetitive fast radio bursts The origin of fast radio bursts — or Fast Radio Burst (FRB) — remains mysterious. Some…
They ignite and then literally disappear within milliseconds. Those that astronomers call fast radio bursts – or FRBs for English Fast Radio Burst — remain among the most curious phenomena observed in our Universe. Explosions that generate more energy in a single burst than our Sun does in an entire year. And whose origins researchers are still struggling to define.
Farthest detected fast radio burst emitted energy from the Sun in 30 years
In the summer of 2022, they observed one of these fast radio bursts. But not just any one. Since FRB 20220610A has since been confirmed to be not only the most energetic, but also the most distant ever recorded. It then appeared that our Universe was no more than 5 billion years old – today it is almost three times older. And thanks to images sent back by the Hubble space telescope, astronomers from Northwestern University (United States) have just added another exceptional feature.
A unique birthplace for a quick radio burst
To better understand the importance of the discovery, it is worth remembering that researchers have not, for the moment, managed to locate the origin of more than a few rapid radio bursts. Having succeeded in pinpointing the distant location from which FRB 20220610A left is therefore an achievement in itself. But what’s more, astronomers reveal that the images show that this particular fast radio burst came to us from a very compact group of at least seven galaxies. A galactic environment described as dense as few exist in our Universe.
Astronomers report at a meeting of theAmerican Astronomical Society in New Orleans (United States) that the member galaxies of this group seem to interact. They might exchange matter. Or even be in the merger phase. And all of this might lead to explosions of star formation. Enough to associate FRB 20220610A with a population of fairly recent stars. Which, fortunately, coincides with what astronomers thought regarding other fast radio bursts they’ve already studied.
No more rapid radio bursts needed to define their true nature
Since the first observation of a fast radio burst in 2007, astronomers have recorded nearly a thousand. And they seem to agree today on the fact that they must involve compact objects, such as black holes or neutron stars. But they are still hesitant to confirm the mechanisms behind these events. To get there, they will have to continue to detect others. Thanks to increasingly sensitive technologies.
And understanding the true nature of fast radio bursts will not only satisfy the curiosity of astronomers. They hope that this will also help them shed light on the true nature of our Universe itself. Because when radio waves from FRBs finally meet our telescopes, they may have traveled for billions of years and interacted with a lot of matter along the way. Enough to inform researchers regarding everything they encountered, from dust clouds to interstellar space and galaxies.
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