China’s FAST Telescope Discovers New Fast Radio Burst (FRB) from Cosmic Explosion 6 Billion Years Ago
Scientists in Southwest China’s Guizhou Province have achieved a groundbreaking discovery by identifying a new fast radio burst (FRB) using China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST). This extraordinary achievement sheds light on a cosmic explosion that occurred approximately 6 billion years ago.
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are enigmatic, millisecond-long bursts of radio waves that originate from mysterious cosmic sources. These phenomena emit as much energy in a mere thousandth of a second as the Sun produces in an entire year. Since 1987, radio telescopes on Earth have been detecting these intense and transient radio wave pulses emanating from the distant reaches of the universe.
The Key Laboratory of Information and Computing Science Guizhou Province at Guizhou Normal University, part of the astronomical data processing team, recently stumbled upon the new FRB, which they’ve designated as FRB 20200317A. This discovery marks yet another significant achievement for a local research institution in Guizhou, thanks to the powerful capabilities of FAST. The international scientific community was informed of this breakthrough through the Astronomer’s Telegram on September 23, 2023.
Astronomers estimate that this enigmatic cosmic burst occurred around 6 billion years ago and was captured by China’s FAST on March 17, 2020. This observation data is derived from the FAST priority major project known as Commensal Radio Astronomy FAST Survey (CRAFTS), led by FAST’s chief scientist, Li Di. CRAFTS represents a pioneering endeavor in its ability to simultaneously observe atomic hydrogen gas, pulsars, and conduct a simultaneous search for extraterrestrial civilizations.
The astronomical data processing team meticulously processed the data collected by CRAFTS, ultimately leading to the identification of this new FRB. The collaboration between Guizhou Normal University and the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has borne fruit since their joint establishment in 2014. Specifically, the Key Laboratory of Information and Computing Science Guizhou Province at Guizhou Normal University, established by April 2021, has been instrumental in advancing astronomical big data calculations and processing.
This remarkable discovery by Guizhou scientists using FAST is a testament to China’s growing prominence in the field of astrophysics and radio astronomy. It opens up new avenues for understanding the distant cosmos and the mysterious sources that produce fast radio bursts.