Using the radio telescope at Westerbork astronomers have discovered two dozen of the unexplained Fast Radio Bursts. After zooming in on the signal of the distant bursts, the astronomers found a striking similarity to the radio flashes emitted by nearby, known neutron stars. The discovery is remarkable because these nearby neutron stars already produce more energy than anything achievable on Earth. The distant stars that emit the Fast Radio Bursts must somehow generate an astounding one billion times more energy than the nearby ones.
Scientific paper: Comprehensive analysis of the Apertif fast radio burst sample, (DOI).
See the ASTRON press release here.
Image: © van Leeuwen/ASTRON ; Highly detailed observations of two dozen Fast Radio Bursts discovered by the Westerbork telescope showed the flashes were likely emitted by young, magnetized and highly energetic neutron stars, as illustrated here