World’s largest radio telescope detects mystery flashes 3 billion light years away

[Resurgence]

An international team of scientists using the world’s largest radio telescope has detected a mysterious series of bright flashes from 3 billion light years away. The flashes, known as repeating fast radio bursts (FRB), each last for only a few milliseconds, but can release as much energy as our own solar system’s sun emits in an entire year. Most FRBs detected in the past have been recorded only once, and the latest from a distant galaxy are among the “most active” ever seen, according to scientists. The radio telescope used to detect the signals is the Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) located in southwestern China.