New Hints Fast Radio Bursts from Magnetars

[bison]

A magnetar in our own galaxy,  SGR 1935 +2154, has released an exceptionally strong burst of radio energy. It bears a remarkable resemblance to Fast Radio Bursts seen in other, distant galaxies. This is seen as a strong hint that, at least in some cases, FRBs come from magnetars.

This relatively nearby magnetar was also observed to release x-rays, and gamma rays at the same time. FRBs in general are not connected with these kinds of emissions. It's believed that if  SGR 1935+2145 were  as distant as the sources of  extra-galactic FRBs that the x-rays and gamma rays would not have been detected. 

Please find a link to an article with further information, below:

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-galactic-magnetar-just-spat-out-something-shockingly-like-a-fast-radio-burst

[jbondo]

Boy, those pesky starquakes can really be disruptive. Good thing we don't have Tim McCarver announcing them.

[bison]

The additional information from the new Earth-Sky article makes it clear that the gamma and x rays were not simultaneous with the radio burst, but occurred the previous day. 

The colorful graph of time vs. radio frequency shows a curiously  regular pattern of the strongest radio emissions. These appear to occur at approximately regular frequency intervals of 40 MegaHertz, plus or minus 10 MHz, over the range of 500 to 800 MHz.

Edited May 5, 2020 by bison

[micahc]

A clear channel station was able to tune the signal in.

 

https://www.iheart.com/live/classic-american-top-40-6545/

 

seems to be a signal that bounced back.  

Edited May 5, 2020 by micahc

[bison]

I see that the link to the EarthSky article on this new FRB no longer appears on the headlines page. This is the one to which I refered in my last post here.  Odd, regular distribution of radio emissions at approximate 40 MegaHertz intervals between 400 and 800 MHZ, as examined by the CHIME radio telescope in British Columbia. I am linking to the article, below. Perhaps this fairly regular 40 MHz distribution  is an artifact of the observation process, perhaps not. No mention of it made in the article.

https://earthsky.org/space/fast-radio-burst--detected-within-milky-way

Edited May 8, 2020 by bison