A team of scientists including physicists at MIT has detected a near and ultrabright fast radio burst (FRB) 130 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. The burst is one of the closest FRBs detected to date and also the brightest, earning it the nickname “RBFLOAT.”
The detection was made possible by an upgrade to the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), a large array of halfpipe-shaped antennae based in British Columbia. CHIME has been detecting about 4,000 fast radio bursts since 2018, but its precision had been limited until now.
With the addition of three miniature versions of CHIME called “CHIME Outriggers,” the telescope array can focus on any bright flash that CHIME detects and pinpoint its location in the sky with extreme precision. This allows scientists to study the environment around the signal for clues about what produces these bursts.
The new FRB is believed to have come from the edge of a star-forming region, near the galaxy NGC4141. Scientists suspect that magnetars – young neutron stars with extremely powerful magnetic fields – are responsible for producing FRBs. However, the location of this burst, just outside a star-forming region, may suggest an older magnetar.
Unlike some other FRBs, which repeat or show rhythmic patterns, this one appears to be a one-off. The scientists looked through six years of CHIME data and found no similar flares in the same region. This makes it easier for scientists to study the environment around the signal and gain insights into what produces these bursts.
The detection is significant not only because of its proximity but also because it allows scientists to probe the environment in and around the burst with unprecedented detail. The construction of CHIME Outriggers was funded by various organizations, including the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the US National Science Foundation.
Source: https://news.mit.edu/2025/astronomers-detect-all-time-brightest-fast-radio-burst-0821