One of the biggest mysteries out there in the Universe is inching closer to answers. An astonishing eight new repeating radio signals known as fast radio bursts (FRBs) have been detected flaring from deep space.
At the start of 2019, just one of these mysterious signals, FRB 121102, was known to flash repeatedly. In January, scientists reported a second repeating one (FRB 180814).
This new paper – available on preprint server arXiv, and submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters – describes eight new repeating signals detected by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) radio telescope.
This brings the known total of repeating FRBs to 10. It means we’re starting to build a statistical database of repeaters, which could help astronomers to figure out what these signals actually are.
