Mysterious space radio signals have finally been tracked to their source
September 21, 2025 2025-09-21 11:46Mysterious space radio signals have finally been tracked to their source
Mysterious space radio signals have finally been tracked to their source
Scientists have traced the brightest known fast radio burst to its origin in space, a milestone achievement they hope will provide clues about what’s driving these mysterious cosmic flashes.
The powerful signal, FRB 20250316A, was first spotted in March by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, or CHIME, a radio telescope in British Columbia. The burst lasted less than one-thousandth of a second but carried more energy than the sun produces in four days.
What set this event apart was what happened next. Using a new network of CHIME “Outrigger” stations — three miniature versions of the radio antenna in California, West Virginia, and British Columbia — researchers were able to home in on the burst’s location. That led them to a specific spot in the spiral galaxy NGC 4141, about 130 million light-years away in the Big Dipper constellation.
Scientists say that kind of accuracy is unprecedented for a single burst of this magnitude. Amanda Cook, a McGill University researcher who led one of the studies, likened the precision to spotting a quarter from more than 60 miles away.
“This result marks a turning point: Instead of just detecting these mysterious flashes, we can now see exactly where they’re coming from,” Cook said in a statement. “It opens the door to discovering whether they’re caused by dying stars, exotic magnetic objects, or something we haven’t thought of yet.”
