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Fast radio bursts or FRBs, are extraordinary
events

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that generate as much energy in a thousandth of a second

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as the Sun does in an entire year!

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Astronomers, using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope

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have traced the locations of five brief, powerful

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radio blasts to the spiral arms of five distant
galaxies.

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Because these radio pulses disappear in much

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less than the blink of an eye, researchers

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have had a hard time tracking down where they

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come from, and what causes them.

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Locating the galaxies where these blasts originate,

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is important in determining what astronomical

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events trigger such intense flashes of energy.

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The Hubble Space Telescope helped researchers

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narrow the list of possible FRB sources.

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Since their discovery in 2007, astronomers
have uncovered

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up to 1,000 FRBs, but only

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about 15 are associated with particular galaxies.

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In this new Hubble study of FRBs, astronomers

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pinpointed where those bursts occurred within
their specific galaxies.

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These images display a range of spiral-arm
structures,

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from tightly wound to more open,

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revealing how stars are distributed along
these prominent features.

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These clues helped researchers rule out some
of the possible stellar objects originally

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thought to cause these brilliant flares, including

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the explosive deaths of the youngest, most

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massive stars, which create gamma-ray bursts
and some types of supernovae.

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Another unlikely source is the merger of neutron
stars, 

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the crushed cores of stars that end

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their lives in supernova explosions. These
mergers take billions of years to occur and

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are usually far from the spiral arms of older
galaxies that no longer form stars.

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This study suggests that FRBs do not originate
from the

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youngest, most massive stars or from

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older stars in a galaxy's central bulge. 

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However,
it is consistent with the leading model that

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FRBs originate from young magnetar outbursts.

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Magnetars are a type of neutron star with
powerful magnetic fields.

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Called the strongest magnets in the universe,
Magnetars possess

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a magnetic field 10 trillion

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times more powerful than the magnets on your
refrigerator door!

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These magnetic fields lead to flares and magnetic
processes that can emit radio light.

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Although the Hubble results are exciting,
researchers

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need more observations to better

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pinpoint the source of FRBs so they can develop

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a stronger understanding of these enigmatic flashes.

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This field of study may need a lot more research,

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but thanks to observations made with the Hubble

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Space Telescope, we’re getting closer to
understanding the mysteries of the universe.

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[ MUSIC ]