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A cold molecular cloud, as seen by the Webb Space Telescope. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, and M. Zamani (ESA)
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The Cosmic Mystery and History of Fast Radio Bursts: St. Louis Astronomical Society March Meeting

Duncan Lorimar, West Virginia University, will be presenting a talk for the March St. Louis Astronomical Society meeting, "The Cosmic Mystery and History of Fast Radio Bursts"

A "Fast Radio Burst" (FRB) is a brief, intense burst of radio waves originating from deep space, considered a cosmic mystery due to their unknown origin, with current theories suggesting they likely come from extremely dense objects like neutron stars or magnetars, possibly caused by violent events within their turbulent magnetic fields; while the exact mechanism is still debated, recent observations have allowed scientists to pinpoint some FRBs to specific galaxies, providing crucial clues to their source

Astronomers use radio telescopes – instruments that collect and focus radio waves instead of light – to study the universe. Nearly every type of astronomical object naturally emits radio waves which are largely unaffected by earth's atmosphere and interstellar dust and gas. “Fast radio bursts” (FRB) are millisecond-duration radio wave pulses of cosmological origin that were discovered at West Virginia University in 2007. Dr. Lorimer comments, “They show amazing promise as probes of the large-scale structure of the Universe. They provide a new window into the population of compact objects at vast distances. Although much of the details as to their origins remain to be discovered, I will give an account of their discovery and what we have learned in the past eighteen years.”

Dr. Duncan Lorimer currently holds the rank of Professor of Physics and Astronomy at West Virginia University He has been a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society since 1994 and in 2018 was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society in recognition of his contributions to our understanding of pulsars, and for the discovery of fast radio bursts. In 2023, he was the co-recipient of the Shaw Prize in Astronomy along with Maura McLaughlin and Matthew Bailes for the discovery of fast radio bursts. Dr. Lorimer was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2024.

The St. Louis Astronomical Society is an organization for individuals interested in astronomy and telescopes. The public is invited to attend its meetings, telescope observing sessions, and special events. For more information about Astronomical Society events, please visit www.slasonline.org.

Free parking will be available.