Shining Light

Fast Radio Bursts are relatively new on the astronomy scene, having really emerged over the last 10 or so years. Scientists have determined that they can also be used as powerful cosmic flashlights that can tell us more about the Universe. Now, two Australian scientists have written an excellent review paper about this mysterious phenomenon and how it can help us better understand our place in the Universe.

Often we hear that the Universe works in mysterious ways, and yes, this is very true and a great starting point for science. There are things about the Universe that we observe and are yet to understand, which are then theorised, modelled, investigated and analysed by scientists to help make them mysteries no more.

Sometimes, space-based objects or phenomena can lie in the fascinating waters between something we are yet to understand vs. something that has come through our established systems of science, being peer-reviewed and accepted into becoming the most up to date fact.

Of course, new data might come through and change these facts, tweaking them to represent further observations and confirmed results, and so science continues to progress in these recognised steps over time.

In the last 15 years a relatively new, not-yet-fully understood phenomenon has emerged, fuelling excitement and a race to learn more by global radio astronomers. What began as a discovery in the archival data of the CSIRO’s Parkes radio telescope that was several years old, has now bloomed into a research field with an army of astronomers around the world working around the clock to turn mystery into fact.  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...