Designated FRB 20250316A, this event, referred to as rbfloat (the brightest radio flash recorded to date), took place in the outer region of the nearby Spiral Galaxy NGC 4141.
Infrared image of Galaxy NGC 4141 featuring the rapid wireless burst FRB 20250316A. Image credits: NASA/ESA/CSA/CFA/Blanchard et al. / P. Edmonds.
The Fast Radio Burst (FRB) is a brief yet intense explosion of radio waves, primarily originating from distances beyond our galaxy.
The first FRB was detected in 2007, but an earlier observation was made six years ago in archival data from the Magellan Cloud Pulsar Survey.
These bursts last only a millisecond, hinting at the peculiar distributed pattern of radio pulsars.
They emit as much energy in a millisecond as the Sun releases over 10,000 years, yet the underlying cause remains a mystery.
Some theories propose that the characteristics of these bursts align with technologies of advanced civilizations, potentially arising from magnetized neutron stars or black holes interacting with surrounding gas.
The FRB 20250316A event was discovered on March 16, 2025. Located in the constellation Major Ursa, NGC 4141 is about 130 million light-years away.
Detection was accomplished using the Chime Outgar Array, where Canadian radio telescopes saw upgrades enabling precise FRB localization.
“With the Chime Outrigger, we’ve finally managed to capture these fleeting cosmic signals in real-time. We can narrow them down to specific stellar environments and individual galaxies,” noted one researcher.
Subsequently, Dr. Cook and her team employed the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to seek infrared signals from the same location.
“This was a unique opportunity to direct Webb’s powerful infrared capabilities toward the FRB’s position,” said Dr. Peter Blanchard, an astronomer at Harvard’s Center for Astrophysics.
“We were rewarded with remarkable results, revealing a faint source of infrared light very close to where the radio burst took place.”
“This could be the first object linked to an FRB found in another galaxy,” he added.
The infrared data from Webb indicated an object named NIR-1, likely a giant red star or possibly a giant middle-aged star.
A red giant is a sun-like star nearing the end of its life, expanding and becoming brighter, while the other possibilities are larger than the Sun.
Although these stars may not directly generate the FRB, they could possess invisible companions, such as neutron stars, that strip material from the red giants and massive stars. This mass transfer process might have triggered the FRB.
The advantages of a relatively close and precise location, coupled with sharp Webb images, permit the clearest observation of individual stars located near the FRB.
“Numerous theories have been proposed to explain FRBs, but up until now, there has been no data to test most of these ideas,” stated Professor Ed Berger from the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
“Isolating individual stars near the FRB is a significant improvement over previous searches, and we’re beginning to understand the stellar systems that could produce these powerful bursts.”
However, the red giant or massive star might not be connected to the FRB, prompting researchers to explore a larger area for further clues.
They discovered that the FRB was situated near a small cluster of young massive stars.
Given this positioning, they theorized that the giant stars in the cluster may collapse and form magnetars, leading to the FRB.
Magnetars are too dim to be directly seen in Webb’s observations.
The team examined various other potential explanations for the FRB, including objects from dense clusters of older stars and more giant stars.
These alternatives were deemed unlikely as they were brighter than the faint stars they observed.
“Regardless of whether the connection to the stars is real or not, we’ve learned a great deal about the origins of these bursts,” said Dr. Blanchard.
“If the double star system isn’t the solution, our findings imply that isolated magnetars could be responsible for the FRB.”
Another possible explanation for the infrared signals is that they may be reflected light from flares associated with the objects that triggered the radio bursts, potentially from magnetars. If this is the case, the infrared rays might diminish over time.
The team suggests more observations with Webb to search for such variations.
“We have taken a novel approach to unraveling the mystery of FRBs using Webb’s precise imaging, focusing on the exact position of the emitted FRBs,” Professor Berger remarked.
“We cannot predict when and where the next FRB will emerge, so we must be prepared to deploy Webb promptly when the moment arises.”
The team’s research paper was published in Astrophysics Journal Letters.
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Peter K. Blanchard et al. 2025. apjl 989, L49; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ADF29F
Source: www.sci.news
