FAST reveals insights into cosmic signals

Origin of fast radio bursts unraveled in study, based on in-depth observations

An international research team using China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope, or FAST, has found some of the strongest evidence yet suggesting that at least some fast radio bursts — mysterious flashes of radio energy from deep space — are produced by compact star binaries.

The discovery, published on Friday in the journal Science, comes from in-depth observations of a repeating fast radio burst known as FRB 20220529. This marks the first time globally that scientists have captured the evolutionary process of such a burst, aiding in narrowing down the long-debated origins of these brief yet powerful cosmic signals.