FRB 20190520B: New Fast Radio Burst Detected by Scientists

• 09 Jun 2022

Astronomers have detected a radio signal coming from space, the second of its kind, which raises more questions about their origins.

• The signal is coming from a galaxy believed to be nearly 3 billion light-years away. The detection of the new Fast Radio Burst (FRB), termed FRB 20190520B, raises some important questions about the origin and source of these signals.
• FRBs: These are intense but brief flashes of radio frequency emissions and these typically last milliseconds. These are known to send out repeat radio waves multiple times.

Discovery

• FRB 20190520B was detected using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) in Guizhou, China in May 2019.
• Scientists followed this up with monthly observations and detected nearly 75 bursts between April 2020 and September 2020.
• The researchers localised FRB 20190520B using the US National Science Foundation (NSF)’s Karl G Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), which is a radio astronomy observatory located in central New Mexico.

Key Points

• The source of FRB 20190520B is “co-located with a compact, persistent radio source and associated with a dwarf host galaxy of high specific-star-formation.”
• The signal is supposed to be close to another unknown object, which is emitting a weaker radio signal.
• This sort of combination has only been observed in another FRB. Researchers also observed that the object constantly emits weaker radio waves between bursts.