New Clues to Fast Radio Bursts

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Video imagery:

·       Illustration and animations magnetar SGR 1935: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)

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Photos of outer space, galaxies, colorful nebulae, and stars. Text, News from the Universe. 

 

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February 26, 2024. New Clues to Fast Radio Bursts. Illustration. A blue magnetar burns bright white in a spot on the upper left, and sends out a plume of gas and arcs of particles all around the surface of the sphere. Text, Fast radio bursts are one of the most mysterious, and powerful, phenomena in the universe. In less than a second, a burst can release as much energy as the Sun does in a year. The first opportunity to study one in our own galaxy occurred in 2020. Animation. Against a backdrop of outer space with gasses in shades of brown, three star dots glow blue. Lines connect them into a triangle labeled, The Summer Triangle. Text, The burst came from a magnetar, a type of dense remaining core from a star that has exploded. A crosshair focuses on a point just below halfway down the right line of the triangle. It glows intense white blue and a burst of blue is expelled from the top left. Text, When this magnetar produced another fast radio burst in 2022, NASA X-ray telescopes NICER and NuSTAR observed the magnetar for hours before and after the event. The blue magnetar sends out blue plumes and arcs. They encircle it from pole to pole all the way around. 

 

Text, The X-ray data show that the burst occurred when the magnetar slowed down between two sudden, rapid increases in its spin. All over the surface of the magnetar, bursts of intense white appear. Text, The slowdown process of the magnetar's spin occurred 100 times faster than scientists had seen before. Scientists can't say yet how this is related to the fast radio burst, but it offers important clues for the future understanding of this powerful cosmic mystery. 

 

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The blue magnetar spins and sends out arcs of blue and white. Text, This news was brought to you in part by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA.