At https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/01/250121162048.htm … ‘astronomers thought they understood fast radio bursts. A recent one calls that into question.’ This is the headline, or title, at the link. Fast radio bursts are mysterious and brief flashes of radio emissions that were thought to be produced by what are known as magnetars. These are highly magnetised rotating neutron stars. They go on to say that magnetars appear to primarily occur in young star clusters. However, a repeating radio burst last year appears to emanate from the outskirts of an old and massive elliptical galaxy where, theoretically, according to consensus thinking, magnetars would have long since disappeared. Does this mean magnetars are not the cause of fast radio bursts? That is what astronomers and cosmologists are now pondering.
A magnetar is a highly magnetised spinning neutron star left over after the core collapse of a young massive star. The fast radio burst they have located by an array of telescopes in an old galaxy – possibly even a dead galaxy, or one that is not producing new stars, is a mystery. They have now expanded on the telescope array in order to study where exactly previous radio bursts originated.
See also https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/01/250121125636.htm …. from January 21 st – first fast radio burst traced to old dead, elliptical galaxy.