Distant Galaxy Emits 15 New Fast Radio Bursts

— “These are the highest frequency and widest bandwidth detections of bursts from FRB 121102 obtained to-date. Additional fully calibrated full-Stokes analysis employing coherent de-dispersion on raw voltage data is ongoing. These observations may indicate FRB 121102 is currently in a heightened activity state, and follow-on observations are encouraged, particularly at higher radio frequencies.”

- The Astronomer's Telegram, Aug. 29, 2017

— “Fast radio bursts are exceedingly bright given their short duration and origin at great distances (3 billion light-years), and we haven't identified a possible natural source with any confidence. An artificial origin of fast radio bursts is worth contemplating and checking.”

- Avi Loeb, Ph.D., Chair of the Harvard University Astronomy Department

A sequence of 14 of the 15 detected bursts illustrate their dispersed spectrum and extreme variability. The streaks across the colored energy plot are the bursts appearing at different times and different energies because of dispersion caused by 3 billion years of travel through intergalactic space. In the top frequency spectrum, the dispersion has been removed to show the 300 microsecond pulse spike. Capturing this diverse set of bursts was made possible by the broad bandwidth that can be processed by the Breakthrough Listen backend at the Green Bank Telescope. Spectrum by Breakthrough Listen.

August 30, 2017 Green Bank Telescope, West Virginia - “Circling one star among hundreds of billions, in one galaxy among a hundred billion more, in a universe that is vast and expanding ever faster — perhaps toward infinity. Are we alone? Are there habitable worlds in our galactic neighborhood? Can we make the great leap to the stars? And can we think and act together as one world in the cosmos?”

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