Extremely bright fast radio bursts (FRBs) emit vast energy in milliseconds, comparable to the Sun's yearly output. A particularly bright burst, 20250316A (RBFLOAT), was detected by CHIME/FRB and observed in March near the Big Dipper. An array of outrigger telescopes across North America localized the source to a 45-light-year region in a galaxy about 130 million light-years away, a volume smaller than a typical star cluster. The localization precision enabled identification of host galaxy NGC 4141 and a matching faint infrared signal captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, providing new constraints on FRB origins.
Despite only lighting up for a tiny fraction of a second, these fast radio bursts (FRBs) have been known to release as much energy as the Sun puts out in an entire year. Now, in what's being called a " turning point," an international team of researchers has traced back the location of the origin of one of the brightest FRBs ever detected, allowing them to glean invaluable insights into the baffling phenomenon.
As detailed in a pair of new papers, astronomers used the Canadian CHIME/FRB radio-telescope to home in on an FRB, officially called 20250316A - but unofficially referred to as "RBFLOAT" for Radio Brightest Flash Of All Time" - which was first observed in March of this year near the Big Dipper. Thanks to an array of "outrigger" telescopes spread out across North America, the team was able to pinpoint the origin of the FRB to a precise region that measures just 45 light-years across, significantly smaller than the average star cluster, in a galaxy some 130 million light-years away.
"The precision of this localization, tens of milliarcseconds, is like spotting a quarter from [62 miles] away," said lead author of one of the papers and McGill University-based postdoctoral researcher Amanda Cook in a statement. "That level of detail is what let us identify the host galaxy, NGC 4141, and match the burst with a faint infrared signal captured by the James Webb Space Telescope."
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