Astronomy
The Origins of Fast Radio Bursts from Magnetars
Quick fact
In April 2020, a magnetar named SGR 1935+2154, located about 30,000 light-years away in our Milky Way, was caught emitting a fast radio burst in real time—the first such event ever observed from inside our galaxy.
Why this is interesting
Imagine a flash of radio light that releases in a millisecond more energy than our Sun does in a day—except it comes from a city-sized object. What could possibly produce such a blast?