Key Points
- A mysterious FRB was detected from an ancient elliptical galaxy, challenging theories about their origins.
- The host galaxy, 11.3 billion years old, should not contain the typical sources thought to produce FRBs.
- The burst was far from any active star-forming regions, raising questions about its origin.
- CHIME’s new outrigger telescopes will improve FRB pinpointing capabilities.
Astronomers have pinpointed a mysterious fast radio burst (FRB) emanating from the distant outskirts of an ancient elliptical galaxy. This unexpected location challenges existing theories about the origins of these powerful cosmic signals. The discovery, made using the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) telescope, has raised new questions about how such energetic events can occur in galaxies where star formation ceased billions of years ago.
Calvin Leung, a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues identified the burst, FRB 20240209A, in the northern constellation Ursa Minor. The burst originates from an 11.3-billion-year-old galaxy located 2 billion light-years from Earth.
The research team initially expected the source to be a magnetar—a highly magnetized neutron star typically found in young, star-forming galaxies. However, the dead nature of the host galaxy contradicts this assumption, leaving scientists puzzled. “Now the question is: How do you explain the presence of a magnetar in such an old galaxy?” Leung said.
Vishwangi Shah, a doctoral student at McGill University and corresponding author of the study published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, extended Leung’s calculations and helped pinpoint the burst’s precise location. Optical telescopes confirmed the FRB’s surprising position in the galaxy’s outskirts, far from any star-forming regions.
The discovery is significant as it marks only the second FRB linked to a globular cluster—a dense collection of old stars. However, the previous case was associated with an active galaxy, making FRB 20240209A even more intriguing.
CHIME’s growing network of outrigger telescopes, including a newly operational array at Hat Creek Observatory in Northern California, will further enhance the telescope’s ability to locate FRBs with greater precision. Leung estimates that with the full array, astronomers can pinpoint one FRB to its host galaxy every day—20 times more efficiently than before.