While last year, scientists managed to trace the source galaxy of one of the so called fast radio bursts (FRB), a team of researchers led by astrophysicist Shivani Bhandari of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia has managed to perform a similar feat with three other such signals, Science Alert reports.
According to the media outlet, while the sheer distance between our galaxy and the galaxies the signals originated from, located billions of light years away, makes it virtually impossible to identify the individual objects that produced said FRBs, the team's findings have allowed scientists to narrow down the prospective sources of these signals.
"These precisely localised fast radio bursts came from the outskirts of their home galaxies, removing the possibility that they have anything to do with supermassive black holes," said Bhandari.
Also, it seems that the galaxies in question are somewhat similar to the Milky Way galaxy which helps narrow down the search even further, with CSIRO astrophysicist Elaine Sadler saying that "models such as mergers of compact objects like white dwarfs or neutron stars, or flares from magnetars created by such mergers, are still looking good".
And though scientists are yet to determine with absolute certainty what exactly produces FRBs, Bhandari noted that their research also helps us learn more about the galaxies from where these signals come.
"Just like doing video calls with colleagues shows you their homes and gives you a bit of an insight into their lives, looking into the host galaxies of fast radio bursts gives us insights to their origins," she remarked.