Fast Radio Burst pinpointed 500 million light yrs away. May not be of 'natural' origin.

(Image of "SDSS..." host galaxy of Fast Radio Burst (FRB "R3”) – The position of the FRB in the spiral arm of the galaxy is marked by crosshairs.  Image:© B. Marcote et al. / Nature 2020)

Fast Radio Bursts or FRBs are observable pulses of high energy, that last no longer than milliseconds - then vanish.  First discovered in 2007 by astronomer David Lorimer, these bursts of radio wave energy are seemingly infrequent due to their sudden and random occurrences.  Weakened further by its measure of the millions of years the signal has travelled - thus the detection here on Earth is not a common event.  As most, if not all of these FRBs are extragalactic, meaning they originate from other Galaxies outside from the Milkyway.  For the most part, these extremely high energy pulses deep within Space are still a mystery, the theory that appears to hold some merit over the other hypostheisis, is that these FRBs are related to a highly magnetised neutron star called a Magnerstar – as the densely spinning star emits a hyperflare also known as a 'starquake'  or a Black hole either swallowing a neutron star or ripping apart a Magnerstar. The problem with the current theories of FRBs is that they do not repeat throughout the cosmos, despite their constant manner.  It is there randomness that has been hard to track, therefore difficult for astronomers to calculate the exact locations of these bursts.  It is only when they repeat, scientists can then pinpoint the location of the FRB. 

Recently a paper written for Nature Magazine, have pinpointed one of these repeating signals to a nearby (500 Million Light Years away) Galaxy.  But, the mystery maintains, as these signals have formed without what appears to be any 'natural' hypostheisis.

From Scitechdaily:

“We used the cameras and spectrographs on the Gemini North telescope to image the faint structures of the host galaxy where the FRB resides, measure its distance, and analyze its chemical composition,” explains Shriharsh Tendulkar, a postdoctoral fellow at McGill University in Montreal, Canada who led the Gemini observations [3] and subsequent data analysis. “These observations showed that the FRB originates in a spiral arm of the galaxy, in a region which is rapidly forming stars.” 

However, the source of FRB 180916.J0158+65 — which lies roughly 500 million light-years from Earth — was unexpected and shows that FRB’s may not be linked to a particular type of galaxy or environment, deepening this astronomical mystery [4]. “This is the closest FRB to Earth ever localized,” explains Benito Marcote, of the Joint Institute for VLBI European Research Infrastructure Consortium and a lead author of the Nature paper. “Surprisingly, it was found in an environment radically different from that of the previous four localized FRBs — an environment that challenges our ideas of what the source of these bursts could be.”