ESOcast 207 Light: Enigmatic radio burst illuminates a galaxy’s tranquil halo (4K UHD)
ESOcast HD
English - September 26, 2019 18:00 - 53.5 MB Video - ★★★★★ - 40 ratingsNatural Sciences Science Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Previous Episode: Comparison of the Tarantula nebula in infrared and visible light
Next Episode: ESOcast 208 Light: A Cosmic Pretzel (4K UHD)
In November 2018 the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope pinpointed a fast radio burst, named FRB 181112. Follow-up observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and other telescopes revealed that the radio pulses have passed through the halo of a massive galaxy on their way toward Earth. This finding allowed astronomers to analyse the radio signal for clues about the nature of the halo gas.