We've Detected the Closest Extragalactic FRB Yet, but It's From an Unexpected Place
1 JUNE 2021
A newly discovered repeating fast radio burst (FRB) named FRB 20200120E is deepening the mystery of these already deeply mysterious space signals.
Astronomers have tracked its location to a galaxy 11.7 million light-years away, which makes it the closest known fast radio burst, 40 times closer than the next-closest extragalactic signal. But it also appears in a globular cluster - a clump of very old stars, not the sort of place at all one might expect to find the type of star spitting out FRBs.
Its discovery suggests a different formation mechanism for these stars, suggesting that FRBs could emerge from a wider range of environments than we thought.