Paper Boys

Episode 79

Why do extragalactic “fast radio bursts” repeat

A new discovery has been made about these mysterious deep space signals.

Fast radio bursts are millisecond-long signals we detect coming from distant galaxies. They were only recently discovered in 2007 and we still have no clue what’s causing them. These radio bursts appear in short durations on earth at very low powers. At their origin, we have calculated their energies to be enormous–more than our entire sun gives off in 80 years! Join us this week as we dive into new discoveries about these mysterious astronomical phenomena.

Check out the arxiv article here and the CBS News article here.

Photo credit: J. JOSEPHIDES/CENTRE FOR ASTROPHYSICS AND SUPERCOMPUTING/SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

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