Scientists have determined the origin of the strange radio wave that took eight billion years to reach us. According to recent research presented at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Orleans, Louisiana, the most unique and ancient fast radio burst (FRB) originated halfway back to the Big Bang. Astronomers headed by Northwestern University in the United States have discovered the source of the most intense FRB, detected in 2022. Using photos from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the researchers traced the FRB, known as 20220610A, back to a group of at least seven galaxies. Their findings show that the galaxies are interacting and maybe merging. Such rare interactions among galaxies lead to conditions that can trigger an FRB.
According to experts, the new research raises questions about all the previous scientific models of FRBs. Lead researcher Alexa Gordon of Northwestern University said, “Without the Hubble’s imaging, it would remain a mystery, whether this FRB originated from one monolithic galaxy or some interacting system. It’s these types of environments – these weird ones – that drive us toward a better understanding of the mystery of FRBs.”
FRBs are quick, powerful radio bursts that arrive and dissipate in milliseconds
FRBs are quick, powerful radio bursts that arrive and dissipate in milliseconds. They create more energy in a single burst than the Sun does in a year. FRB 20220610A was the most distant fast radio burst ever recorded, with four times the energy of closer FRBs. Scientists have identified up to 1,000 FRBs since their first discovery in 2007. However, the sources of the majority of them remain unknown. Earlier research suggested that FRBs originated around an unlabeled, formless blob made up of a single, irregular galaxy or a group of three distant galaxies. However, in the instance of FRB 20220610A, there could be at least seven galaxies in close proximity to one another. They’re so near that everything could fit inside our Milky Way.
The study’s co-author, Wen-fai Fong, an associate professor of physics and astronomy, said: “There are some signs that the group members are interacting. In other words, they could be trading materials or possibly on a path to merging. These groups of galaxies (called compact groups) are incredibly rare environments in the universe and are the densest galaxy-scale structures we know of.”