• DOI:10.1126/science.1147532
• Corpus ID: 15321890

A Bright Millisecond Radio Burst of Extragalactic Origin

@article{Lorimer2007ABM,
  title={A Bright Millisecond Radio Burst of Extragalactic Origin},
  author={Duncan R. Lorimer and Matthew Bailes and Maura Mclaughlin and D J Narkevic and Fronefield Crawford},
  journal={Science},
  year={2007},
  volume={318},
  pages={777 - 780}
}

• D. Lorimer, M. Bailes, +2 authors F. Crawford
• Published 27 September 2007
• Physics
• Science

Pulsar surveys offer a rare opportunity to monitor the radio sky for impulsive burst-like events with millisecond durations. We analyzed archival survey data and found a 30-jansky dispersed burst, less than 5 milliseconds in duration, located 3° from the Small Magellanic Cloud. The burst properties argue against a physical association with our Galaxy or the Small Magellanic Cloud. Current models for the free electron content in the universe imply that the burst is less than 1 gigaparsec distant. No further bursts were seen in 90 hours of additional observations, which implies that it was a singular event such as a supernova or coalescence of relativistic objects. Hundreds of similar events could occur every day and, if detected, could serve as cosmological probes.