A group of astronomers from Pune has obtained the first ever evidence of a galaxy merger that hosted a Fast Radio Burst (FRB) using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT).
FRBs are extremely bright radio pulses that flicker for less than a few milliseconds from all directions in the sky, making them extremely difficult to detect. Astronomers around the world are uncertain about the source of FRBs. To this end, gaseous material and stars from nearby galaxies with FRBs are currently being studied.
Nearly 1,000 FRBs have been discovered since their first discovery about 15 years ago. Some FRBs that appear from a distance can be single flashes or have a well-defined periodicity, called repeater FRBs.
Researchers from TIFR – the National Center for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), Pune and the University of California have selected a relatively nearby galaxy to house the FRB identified as FRB20180916B. It fires radio pulses every 16 days and is located on the outskirts of a galaxy about 5 billion light-years away. FRB20180916B was tracked by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), which detected nearly 800 FRBs.
The researchers examined the 21-centimeter atomic hydrogen readout line acquired by the GMRT at 1420 MHz to map the distribution of gas in the FRB’s host galaxy.
While optical images of this galaxy didn’t reveal much interesting information, larger revelations came from subsequent radio imaging and mapping of the host galaxy’s atomic hydrogen gas.
Complete News Source : The India Express
