535 Fast Radio Bursts Seen by CHIME Telescope - The Cosmic Companion June 10, 2021
Fast radio bursts may be frequent, but the are... FAST... making them tough to see. So how did the CHIME radio telescope find 535 FRBs in a year?
Seeing 535 fast radio bursts around the Cosmos, the CHIME radio telescope sextuples the number of previously-known FRBs in only a year. But what are FRBs?
Each day, the CHIME radio telescope, composed from four cylindrical radio antennas, records signals from half the sky of Earth. The unique capabilities of this unusual telescope provides glimpses of the Cosmos unlike those available at other instruments.
In its first year of operation, this one-of-a-kind telescope at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory recorded 535 fast radio bursts previously unknown to astronomers.
“Called fast radio bursts (FRBs), these extraordinary events generate as much energy in a thousandth of a second as the Sun does in a year. Because these transient radio pulses disappear in much less than the blink of an eye, researchers have had a hard time tracking down where they come from, much less determining what kind of object or objects is causing them. Therefore, most of the time, astronomers don’t know exactly where to look,” NASA describes.
Read more: https://thecosmiccompanion.net/535-fast-radio-bursts-seen-by-chime-telescope
Upcoming guests on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion
June 15 (s4/e24): Dr. Noah Petro, NASA’s Project Scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), talking about returning to the Moon!
June 22 (s4/e25): Brittany Zimmerman, CEO of Yummet, on developing technology for space exploration and protecting the Earth.
June 29 (s4/e26): ~just added~ Alyssa Mills, Graduate intern at JPL, talks about the largest moon in the Solar System, Ganymede.
July 6 (s5/e1): SEASON FIVE PREMERE! Earl Swift, author of Across the Airless Wilds, a history of NASA’s lunar buggy!
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