by Emily Petroff (Swinburne University)

Petroff et al. (2015) present the discovery of a new fast radio burst (FRB) in real time using the Parkes Radio Telescope. For the first time, the real-time detection system at the telescope also captured the polarisation of the burst, a previously unknown quantity. The burst, designated FRB 140514, was found to be 20% circularly polarised with no detection of linear polarisation, possibly due to depolarisation by a strong line-of-sight magnetic field. After detection at Parkes, telescopes around the world and in space were triggered to follow-up the source with no detected observations in the hours and days after the burst, constraining supernova and long gamma ray burst progenitor models. The paper is published today in MNRAS . – The schematic of the 64-m Parkes Telescope observing the FRB was made by Swinburne Astronomy Productions.

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