For the first time, astronomers have traced a fast radio burst (FRB) to the outskirts of an ancient, dead, elliptical galaxy—an unprecedented home for a phenomenon previously associated with much younger galaxies.

For years, high-energy energy flashes have kept astronomers guessing, with one theory emerging most recently. A discovery now contradicts it.

( Nanowerk News) Astronomer Calvin Leung was excited last summer to crunch data from a newly commissioned radio telescope to precisely pinpoint the origin of repeated bursts of intense radio waves — so-called fast radio bursts (FRBs) — emanating from somewhere in the northern constellation Ursa Minor.

Astronomers have traced a mysterious fast radio burst to an unexpected place — an ancient, massive galaxy far removed from active star formation. This revelation shakes up the conventional wisdom that such cosmic phenomena exclusively arise from younger,