Radio bursts caused by the magnetization of the Milky Way



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On April 28 of this year, the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) radio telescope captured such a strong signal that, at the time, the system was not even able to quantify it. The first Fast Radio Burst (FRB, or rapid radio burst) detected in the Milky Way has now been confirmed by the magnetar SGR 1935 + 2154, inside our galaxy.

In fact, two explosions were recorded: the second, accompanied by more intense than average X-ray emissions.

“We were able to determine the energy dispersed relative to that of the extragalactic FRBs. In a millisecond, this magnetar emitted as much energy in radio waves as the Sun in 30 seconds, “explained astronomer Christopher Bochenek of the Stare2 radio telescope.

(A magnetar is the rotating core of a large dead star with a powerful magnetic field. According to Bochenek, “magnetars are so dense that a teaspoon of one would have the weight of a thousand pyramids of Giza.”)

At the beginning of October, CHIME again captured three millisecond radio bursts at three-second intervals from SGR 1935 + 2154. Astronomers of the Chinese FAST radio telescope, who began to monitor the phenomenon, found a pulsed radio emission consistent with the rotation period of the magnetar.

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