Fast Radio Burst (FRBs) are the intense bursts of radio waves that last for just a few milliseconds. The origin of these bursts is unknown and comes from the distant cosmos. Scientists believe that FRBs possess a tremendous amount of energy.
Recently, astrophysicist spotted the very first FRB in the Milky Way since their first discovery in 2007 by American astronomer Duncan Lorimer, which led to the term 'Lorimer Bursts'. The cause of these mysterious flashes remain uncertain, and so far, scientists could trace only a few of them. Single radio bursts occur once and are unrepeatable. But repeating FRBs sends short energetic radio waves multiple times and based on the observation, they usually occur in sporadic or a cluster. But the recent discovery of FRB 180916.J0158+65, astronomers have identified a pattern occurring every 16.35 days. In a series of four days, two bursts occur each hour and go to silent for 12 days.
Many astronomers hypothesise that magnetars could be the source for FRBs and it was in 2016 that gave astronomers evidence of multiple bursts coming from the same source. Magnetars are a class of young neutron stars with an ultra-strong magnetic field ∼109 to 1011 T, ∼1013 to 1015 gauss (G).