10-12-2020 | 11:52 AM
Fast Radio burst spotted by NASA in the Milky Way
Context
Recently in April 2020, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration reported that it observed a mix of radio signals and X-ray in the Milky Way. This has never been observed in the galaxy before. NASA has also reported the spotting of Fast Radio Bursts.
Highlights
As per the recent observations Intense pulses of radio waves known as fast radio bursts (FRB) that have been frequently detected in other galaxies but have now been found in the Milky Way.
The X-ray portion of the simultaneous bursts was detected by several satellites, including NASA’s Wind mission, and the radio component was discovered by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME).
CHIME is Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment.
It is a radio telescope located in Canada.
This telescope is used to receive radio waves.
The detected FRB was named as FRB 200428.
In 2007, 1st radio burst was observed during pulsar survey data. So far only one radio burst is repeating itself. It is systematically repeated every 16.35 days.
This is the 1st time when radio bursts were spotted in the Milky Way Galaxy. Though, the radio bursts were discovered but their source of origin couldn’t be located.
The Fast Radio Burst which was spotted in Milky Way Galaxy in April 2020 was from a magnetar known as SGR 1935+2154, located about 30,000 light-years from the earth.
A magnetar is a type of neutron star.
Magnetars are the most powerful magnets in the cosmos.
Their magnetic fields are 5,000 trillion times more powerful than that of the Earth.
It is located in the Vulpecula constellation.
The X-ray burst from the star lasted for less than a second. On the other hand, the radio burst from the star lasted for one-thousandth of a second but this 3,000 times brighter than any other radio transmissions from magnetars.
Fast Radio burst (FRBs)
FRBs are bright bursts of radio waves caused by astronomical objects with changing magnetic fields.
The duration of these radio waves lies in the millisecond scale. Due to this short duration of occurrence it is difficult to detect them and determine their position in the sky.
Astronomers estimate that the average FRB releases as much energy in a millisecond as the sun puts out in 3 days.
The first FRB was discovered in 2007, since then scientists have been working towards finding the source of their origin.
