AAS #237: five things we learned
Here are the key take-outs from the 237th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
The Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of the butterfly wing - shaped nebula, NGC 2346. The nebula is about 2,000 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Monoceros. Credit: NASA/STScI
Each January, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) conducts a meeting widely hailed as the “Superbowl of astronomy”, in which astronomers gather from around the world to share their latest results.
Last year it was in Honolulu. But this year, thanks to COVID-19, it was online something that AAS had already practised for smaller meetings as far back as June 2020. Not surprisingly, given the rehearsal, they did a smash-bang job of it. But they also had a remarkable amount to present… plus a lot of fun.
Date Time
Radio burst in Milky Way sheds light on origins of mysterious phenomenon
The Okanagan-based CHIME radio telescope detected a fast radio burst from within the Milky Way in April 2020.
UBCO researcher describes significance of findings
In the decade since they were first discovered, astronomers have categorized fast radio bursts (FRBs) as mysterious phenomena. But a recent astronomical event has provided further insight into the origin of these signals.
In a paper published recently in Nature, researchers confirm the evidence that supports their theory of what caused the April 28, 2020 event-a magnetar.
Magnetars, or high-magnetized pulsars, are remnants of dead stars that have gone supernova and left behind a compressed core that has more mass than the sun but is the diameter of a small city. Before this, researchers suspected that FRBs likely originate from magnetars, but no FRB-like event had been seen from any of the Milky Way’s roughly 30 known magnetars.
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An artist’s impression of a magnetar generating a high-energy flare showing the collapsed star’s complex magnetic field and a beamed polar emission. Image: McGill University Graphic Design Team
For the first time, astronomers have detected a fast radio burst, or FRB, in the Milky Way, a titanic outburst of X-rays and radio waves that was generated in a fraction of a second. Until now, FRBs were only seen in other galaxies and their sources were a mystery.
Now, astronomers at multiple institutions have pinpointed the FRB spotted in the Milky Way and conclude it most likely was generated by a magnetar, a super-magnetised neutron star with many times the mass of the Sun. The magnetic field generated by a magnetar can be a thousand times more intense than that of a typical neutron star.