Fast radio bursts from space have baffled scientists for years

https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/fast-radio-bursts-space-have-baffled-scientists-years-explanation-may-ncna1049216

by lxm • 7 years ago

30 21 7 years ago

nbcnews.com

tiborsaas• 7 years ago

TLDR: They are still baffled.

The article only refers to repeating FBR-s but that's a known things for years now.

jfengel• 7 years ago

The subhead is slightly more informative: "The recent discovery of eight new signals means astronomers may finally have all the clues they need to solve a longstanding mystery." Which could perhaps be shortened to "Eight new signals provide data on fast radio bursts".

newsreview12• 7 years ago

how in the world do FRB's "release enough energy to power the world for three centuries." If we don't know how and when they are happening, how can we measure their energy? Can someone explain?

rpmisms• 7 years ago

I really really hope it's aliens. I want to be alive for that discovery.

tiku• 7 years ago

Just wait until the 20th of september

waterheater2• 7 years ago

out of curiousity...why the 20th?

AnIdiotOnTheNet• 7 years ago

Me too, but in the same way that I hope someone invents a drug that lets me eat whatever I want and not gain weight. The probability of actually seeing such a thing in our lifetime is infinitesimal.

ggggtez• 7 years ago

FRBs are almost certainly just a natural occurrence.

alpb• 7 years ago

In practice, scientists are rarely baffled. But titles like these just help things make it to the news.

darkerside• 7 years ago

I'd say, scientists are continually baffled. It's their job to mine the outer edges of human knowledge.

perl4ever2• 7 years ago

"Because FRBs last only a thousandth of a second or so, any object producing them couldn’t be much bigger than 200 miles across"

I read this sort of thing now and then over the years, and I'm not sure I understand it, or if it is misleading.

What is an "object"? Could an "object" be part of a stellar object, or is it necessarily the whole thing? It seems like surely some event can happen on the Sun in less time than it takes for light to pass across it, just like radio waves on earth can be modulated in less time than it takes for them to pass across the planet.

Maybe it's obvious what an "object" is, but I feel like the statement that it has to be under 200 miles wide is promoting the assumption that it has to be a neutron star, or perhaps a black hole. But does it?

Fast radio bursts from space have baffled scientists for years

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