China's radio telescope uncovered a binary-system origin for some FRBs

Through studying the observation data of China’s gigantic radio telescope, located in the country’s southwestern Guizhou Province, an international research team has uncovered compelling new evidence, supporting a binary-system origin for at least some fast radio bursts (FRBs).

At a press conference held at the observation base of Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) on Friday, the deputy director of the Purple Mountain Observatory explained that FRBs are extremely bright, transient radio phenomena, lasting only milliseconds but releasing enormous amounts of energy, equivalent to the total radiation from the Sun over an entire week.

Located in a naturally deep and round karst depression in Guizhou, the FAST has a reception area equal to 30 standard football fields. As the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope, FAST started formal operations in January 2020 and was officially opened to the world in March 2021.