An international team of scientists, including physicists at MIT, has detected the strongest signal from deep space ever recorded. The Fast Radio Burst (FRB) is confirmed to have come from a galaxy some 130 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. Nicknamed RBFLOAT — “Radio Brightest Flash Of All Time” — this ultrabright burst lasted just milliseconds but outshone every other radio source in its host galaxy during that fleeting moment. Fast radio bursts are intense but brief flashes of radio waves from distant galaxies, often lasting only a few milliseconds. Their origins remain largely unknown, but these bursts release as much energy in that brief instant as the Sun emits in several days. Most FRBs are observed billions of light years away, making RBFLOAT’s relative proximity especially exciting for astronomers seeking to understand their nature. The discovery was made possible by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) alongside its recently added Outriggers, the small, continent-spanning arrays that allow for extraordinary precision in pinpointing FRB locations.
This combined instrument system located RBFLOAT in a specific region of the spiral galaxy NGC 4141, in the galaxy’s outer edge just beyond an active star-forming area. The proximity of this burst means we get the chance to study a pretty normal FRB in exquisite detail,” said Kiyoshi Masui, MIT associate professor of physics involved in the research. The location suggests the source may be a “slightly older” magnetar, a highly magnetised neutron star known to produce energetic flares, migrated away from dense star birth regions. Notably, unlike some FRBs that repeat, RBFLOAT appears to be a one-off event. Scientists combed six years of CHIME data and found no prior bursts from that cosmic neighbourhood, helping sharpen debates about the diversity of FRB sources.This groundbreaking discovery provides a fresh perspective on these mysterious cosmic phenomena. By examining the trajectory of the burst’s radio waves, astronomers are able to investigate the intergalactic medium, magnetic fields, and fundamental principles of physics. As technological advancements continue, it is anticipated that hundreds of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) may be pinpointed each year, illuminating their diverse origins and functions within the universe. RBFLOAT could represent a significant milestone in comprehending the powerful and enigmatic radio displays of the cosmos, bringing researchers closer to solving a long-standing cosmic enigma.
