Astronomers have observed a fast radio burst (FRB) emanating from an ancient, dead galaxy billions of light years away, challenging the notion that such signals originate exclusively from star-forming regions. The signal, designated FRB 20240209A, appears to come from the outermost regions of a galaxy that has not produced new stars for about 11.3 billion years. This discovery raises critical questions about the mechanisms behind FRBs, especially given the absence of magnetars, the theorized source of these bursts, in such an evolved cosmic environment.
This is both surprising and exciting, as FRBs are expected to originate inside galaxies, often in star-forming regions. The location of this FRB so far outside its host galaxy raises questions as to how such energetic events can occur in regions where no new stars are forming.
Though they're often only milliseconds in duration, FRBs are so powerful at their source that a single pulse emits more energy than our Sun does in an entire year.
Astronomers have speculated that they originate from magnetars, a type of collapsed, extremely dense stellar object called a neutron star that maintains an unfathomably potent magnetic field.
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