The universe's most powerful radio blast, hailing from halfway back in time, has a curious origin story. Scientists at Northwestern University have traced it to a cosmic mosh pit of at least seven galaxies, possibly merging in a celestial dance.
This unexpected finding throws a curveball at our understanding of these mysterious bursts, raising questions about what triggers them and where to find them in the vast cosmos.
With Hubble's help, the researchers unearthed this galactic gathering, suggesting collisions like this could be the key to unlocking the secrets of these enigmatic cosmic screams.
The hunt for more FRBs just got a whole lot more interesting, sending astronomers scrambling to rewrite the script on these mysterious cosmic events.
According to NASA, FRB 20220610A was first detected on June 10, 2022, by the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope in Western Australia. The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile confirmed that the FRB came from a distant place. The FRB was four times more energetic than closer FRBs.
"It required Hubble's keen sharpness and sensitivity to pinpoint exactly where the FRB came from," said lead author Alexa Gordon of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. "Without Hubble's imaging, it would still remain a mystery as to whether this was originating from one monolithic galaxy or from some type of interacting system. It's these types of environments-these weird ones-that are driving us toward better understanding the mystery of FRBs."
Hubble's crisp images suggest this FRB originated in an environment where there may be as many as seven galaxies on a possible path to merging, which would also be very significant, researchers say.
"We are ultimately trying to answer the questions: What causes them? What are their progenitors and what are their origins? The Hubble observations provide a spectacular view of the surprising types of environments that give rise to these mysterious events," said co-investigator Wen-fai Fong, also of Northwestern University.
