Astronomers have recorded the most intense rapid radio explosion (FRB) ever observed, a cosmic phenomenon of a millisecond that has released an amount of energy comparable to four days of sunlight.
The event, baptized the FRB 20250316A or “RBFLOAT” (Radio Bright Flash of All Time), was surprised on March 16 and located in the NGC 4141 galaxy, about 130 million years ago. able to fix with unprecedented precision the origin of the cosmic radio signals. The details of the research were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
“With the help of Outriggers we manage to restrict the location of these signals not only to galaxies, but even to specific stellar regions,” explained Amanda Cook, the main author of the study. The location of the explosion was so accurate that astronomers managed to identify an area of only 45 years in the spiral arm of the galaxy-an accuracy equivalent to the recognition of a coin from 100 km away.
Additional observations with the James Webb space telescope and other terrestrial instruments suggest that the source of the explosion could be a magnet – an extremely dense and powerful neutron star. These cosmic objects are considered by many researchers as the most probable causes of fast radio explosions.
The fact that RBFLoat produced beside, but not even inside a star formation region, caused scientists to advance the hypothesis that the responsible magnet could have been expelled from his native area. A key question remains if all fast radio explosions are repeated or some are unique events. Although many FRB send more signals over time, RBFLoat has not issued any impulse in hundreds of hours of subsequent observations. It is the first case of non -repetitive radio explosion located with such precision.
“This result gives us a complete image on the environment of a unique radio explosion for the first time. It remains to be seen if others will follow the same pattern,” said Astronoma Sunil Simha, co-author of the study. The Chime and Outriggers continue to monitor the sky, and scientists hope that the new data will provide an answer to the question.
Researchers estimate that telescopes will be able to locate hundreds of such events every year. RBFloat discovery makes a crucial contribution in solving one of the greatest mysteries of modern astrophysics and offers precious indications about the nature of extreme objects in the cosmos.
