Webb Telescope Pinpoints Galaxy Origin of Farthest Fast Radio Burst Ever Seen

A Record-Breaking Signal

Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to pinpoint the galaxy that produced the most distant fast radio burst ever detected. The burst was originally spotted in 2024 by the MeerKAT ground telescope array, and Webb's near-infrared instruments later identified a galaxy in the exact location the signal came from.

Fast radio bursts are ultra-fast radio waves from deep space that last only a fraction of a second yet release as much energy as the sun emits in three days. First discovered in 2007, they remain poorly understood.

An Unexpected Host Galaxy

Based on measurements of how the galaxy's light stretches, the burst occurred just 3 billion years after the Big Bang, when star formation in the universe was at its peak. Surprisingly, the host galaxy is about 1,000 times smaller than expected. Previously detected fast radio bursts took place billions of years later in massive, star-forming galaxies.

Clues to the Burst's Origin

Two leading theories attempt to explain fast radio bursts. One proposes they are generated by the merger of two neutron stars, the collapsed cores of massive supergiant stars, but such collisions take billions of years, meaning bursts from mergers can only come from older galaxies. Another theory suggests the bursts come from massive stars exploding in supernovae and leaving behind magnetars, a rare type of neutron star with extremely powerful magnetic fields.

"Our work suggests that it's very unlikely that this [fast radio burst] was produced by a merger," said Manisha Caleb from the University of Sydney, Australia, lead author of the study published in Science. The findings instead support the theory that this burst originated from a supernova, indicating that fast radio bursts can come from a certain type of star explosion.

Sources: Engadget