Key Points
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have detected an extraordinary fast radio burst (FRB), labeled FRB 20220610A, which has challenged previous understandings of these cosmic phenomena...
This FRB, a brief yet intense emission of radio waves, was not only the most distant but also the most powerful of its kind ever recorded, originating from a complex of galaxies that existed when the universe was a mere 5 billion years old.. FRBs are brief and intense bursts of radio waves that come from distant galaxies..
First identified on June 10, 2022, by the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder radio telescope and later confirmed by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, this FRB was found to be four times more energetic than any previously observed closer bursts.. . ) ..
The Hubble Space Telescope's acute precision was instrumental in tracing the exact origin of the FRB, revealing it to have emerged from a potential merging of up to seven galaxies, a scenario vastly different from the isolated galaxies where FRBs are typically located...
Alexa Gordon of Northwestern University, the lead author of the study, emphasised the importance of Hubble's imaging capabilities in unraveling the mystery of FRBs, while co-investigator Wen-fai Fong highlighted the quest to understand what causes them and their progenitors...
