Astronomers have discovered 25 new fast radio bursts (FRBs) through data captured by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) radio observatory. The repeating FRBs were detected between 2019 and 2021, and the new discovery could bring scientists closer to understanding the mysterious phenomenon.
Since the first FRB was detected in 2007, scientists have been trying to determine the source of the powerful pulses of radio waves that repeat in complex patterns. Some researchers believe that pulsars, highly magnetically charged neutron stars, could be the source.
Lead author Ziggy Pleunis and his colleagues discovered the 25 new repeating sources by using an algorithm and examining a sample catalog of FRBs that contained more than 500 events detected by CHIME. Until now, only 29 out of 1,000 detected FRBs were found to be repeating, meaning the new data nearly doubles the number of known repeating FRBs.
Despite the new discovery, many of the repeating patterns are still difficult to classify and make the FRBs even more elusive. However, as astronomers build a rapidly increasing dataset of these bursts and with the help of large radio telescopes like the Square Kilometer Array Observatory in Australia, they hope to finally get some answers.
Source: The Byte
