Astronomers detect repeating radio burst from distant galaxy

Astronomers have detected a rare repeating radio signal from deep in space, billions of light-years from Earth. The signal was picked up by the CHIME telescope in Canada during summer 2018 and published in the journal Nature in July 2022.

Most fast radio bursts last only a few milliseconds, but this one continued for about three seconds. It also repeated in a regular pattern, almost like a heartbeat. This made it especially interesting to scientists, because repeating bursts are very rare.

Before this discovery, only one other repeating burst had been found, in 2015. Scientists think the signal may come from a neutron star, but they are not certain. The exact source and location are still unknown.