Astronomers grapple with new era of fast radio bursts

One of the most perplexing phenomena in astronomy has come of age. The fleeting blasts of energetic cosmic radiation of unknown cause, now known as fast radio bursts (FRBs), were first detected a decade ago. At the time, many astronomers dismissed the seemingly random blasts as little more than glitches. And although key facts, such as what causes them, are still largely a mystery, FRBs are now accepted as a genuine class of celestial signal and have spawned a field of their own.

The passage was marked this month by the first major meeting on FRBs, held in Aspen, Colorado, on 12–17 February. As well as celebrating a fleet of searches for the signals, the meeting’s 80 delegates grappled with how best to design those hunts and pin down the signals’ origins and precise distances. The trajectory mirrors that of astronomers 20 years ago when they were getting to grips with γ-ray bursts, which are now a staple of astronomical observation, says Bing Zhang, a theoretical astrophysicist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Why ultra-powerful radio bursts are the most perplexing mystery in astronomy “The meeting has really focused the field a lot,” says Sarah Burke Spolaor, an astronomer at West Virginia University in Morgantown. Debates continue over how to root out detection bias and coordinate observations and on what can be learnt by studying patterns in the existing FRB population.

They likely come from a new class of General Service Vehicle, which is nearly twice the size of the older Plate class, ranging up to 300 kilometers in length and nearly that in diameter not counting their fields, carrying over 5 billion tourists, residents, thrill seekers, and assorter scientific types, as well as the usual compliment of Special Circumstance personnel and autonomous non-biological entities and just plain aliens.

The radio bursts are simply a side effect as the ships massive engines gaining traction on the underside of the universe before reaching a sustained speed of 230 kilo-light hours.

Last signal sent was from a ship of the Super Plate Class was from the Very Huge Gravitas Surely relaying its schedule and is due (all things considered, and barring a annoying war bugging up the planned schedule) to arrive in the vicinity of Earth's outer solar system some time round 2020. The ship itself will swing wide - out to various nearby star systems while displacing those who want to have a look around; other parties will no doubt displace in small ships like demilitarized Rapid Offensive Units and the larger General Contact Vehicles favored by Special Circumstance. On the return pass all will be snap displaced back to the Very Huge Gravitas Surely.

Various parties have planned excursions to Iapetus (thought to be the long lost Universal Library because of its unnatural shape), Mars, and Luna. Earth itself will be given a wide birth so as not to scare the inhabitants who are rumored to be hot tempered and unreliable, although in is quite likely that some contingent of Special Circumstance will covertly land somewhere and do whatever it is they do. Just in case the locals get wind of this visit and decide to act up, Very Huge Gravitas Surely carries a compliment of Rapid Offensive Units Abominator Class, and a few of the older Torturer and Gangster classes. Note to the locals: any one of these ROUs can literally f---k the entire solar system before breakfast or before breaking out in a sweat ... stay cool.

Well, if you read my post at 15 as far fetched as it might have sounded to you and others, it turns out great minds think alike: Could Mysterious Cosmic Light Flashes Be Powering Alien Spacecraft? wherein: "... One potential artificial origin, according to the new study, might be a gigantic radio transmitter built by intelligent aliens. So Loeb and lead author Manasvi Lingam, of Harvard University, investigated the feasibility of this possible explanation ..."

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