Binary Stars and Magnetars: Cracking the Mystery of Repeating Fast Radio Bursts

Using China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), astronomers have found strong evidence that some fast radio bursts originate in binary star systems. Nearly two years of observations of a repeating burst revealed extreme Faraday rotation, pointing to a nearby companion star.

The data suggest a magnetar orbiting a sun-like star whose plasma periodically distorts the radio signal. This discovery offers one of the clearest clues yet to the origin of repeating FRBs, supporting the idea that interactions in double-star systems drive these powerful cosmic flashes.

Thank you for listening to Bedtime Astronomy — your guide to the cosmos. New episodes on space exploration, NASA missions & the latest astronomy breakthroughs.