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Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, blaze for a few milliseconds before vanishing without a trace. Their origins are unknown, and their appearance is unpredictable. In the decade following their discovery in 2007, only 140 FRBs had been seen. Now, thanks to the launch of a large stationary telescope in the interior of British Columbia in 2018, the number of new FRBs detected has almost quadrupled – for a total of 535. Moreover, the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME/FRB), a McGill-led inter-university collaboration, has put together the first CHIME/FRB catalogue, which will be presented this week at the American Astronomical Society Meeting.
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Most stars in our galaxy are in pairs, and if the alignment is right, some will periodically eclipse each other. Historical observations that span 126 years show that one such pair of eclipsing binaries won’t be doing it anymore after next month.
The system in question is called HS Hydra. The eclipses started about a century ago, becoming very prominent in the 60s. HS Hydra was first reported as an eclipsing binary in 1965, a period when this subject matter was particularly
en vogue for astronomical study.
Analysis in 2012 showed that the system was a lot more dynamic than previously thought. From the mid-70s to 2008, the eclipsed portion of each star got smaller and smaller. The researchers of that study, based in Switzerland and the Czech Republic, estimated that the pair would stop eclipsing by 2022.