Fast Radio Burst from Galactic Magnetar SGR 1935+2154 is Repeating

Astronomers have detected two more millisecond-duration radio bursts from SGR 1935+2154, a magnetar located over 14,000 light-years away in the constellation of Vulpecula.

The detection supports the hypothesis that — at least some — fast radio bursts are emitted by magnetars at cosmological distances.

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are mysterious and rarely detected bursts of radio waves from space.

These events have durations of milliseconds and exhibit the characteristic dispersion sweep of radio pulsars.

They emit as much energy in one millisecond as the Sun emits in 10,000 years, but the physical phenomenon that causes them is unknown.

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Image credit: Danielle Futselaar / Artsource.nl.

On May 24, 2020, four European radio telescopes detected two bright radio bursts from the SGR 1935+2154 magnetar.

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Milky Way galaxy fast radio burst detected for first time.

On April 28, a supermagnetized stellar remnant known as a magnetar blasted out a simultaneous mix of X-ray and radio signals never observed before.

The flare-up included the first fast radio burst (FRB) ever seen from within our Milky Way galaxy and shows that magnetars can produce these mysterious and powerful radio blasts previously only seen in other galaxies.

A magnetar is a type of isolated neutron star, the crushed, city-size remains of a star many times more massive than our Sun. What makes a magnetar so special is its intense magnetic field.

The field can be 10 trillion times stronger than a refrigerator magnet's and up to a thousand times stronger than a typical neutron star's.

This represents an enormous storehouse of energy that astronomers suspect powers magnetar outbursts.

The X-ray portion of the synchronous bursts was detected by several satellites, including NASA's Wind mission.