MIT astronomers pinned down the origins of at least one fast radio burst, a brief and brilliant explosion of radio waves emitted by an extremely compact object. The team’s novel technique might also reveal the sources of other FRBs.
The fleeting cosmic firework likely emerged from the turbulent magnetosphere around a far-off neutron star.
Tldr; Astronomers have been debating whether FRBs come from the magnetosphere (a neutron star’s immediate, highly magnetic environment) or from shockwaves farther out. Using scintillation (similar to how stars twinkle), MIT researchers pinpointed FRB 20221022A’s origin to within 10,000 kilometers of a neutron star, proving it came from its magnetosphere.
Which is dumb because they are killing my hope it was aliens.
For us busy folks, the summary is right up front:
Tldr; Astronomers have been debating whether FRBs come from the magnetosphere (a neutron star’s immediate, highly magnetic environment) or from shockwaves farther out. Using scintillation (similar to how stars twinkle), MIT researchers pinpointed FRB 20221022A’s origin to within 10,000 kilometers of a neutron star, proving it came from its magnetosphere.
Which is dumb because they are killing my hope it was aliens.
10000 kilometers on a cosmic scale is pretty accurate. A little too accurate, no?
Of course it’s going to be accurate, they used alien tech to track it