CHIME telescope

CHIME telescope

CHIME telescope

Context:

Scientists with the Canadian hydrogen Intensity mapping Experiment (CHIME) Collaboration have assembled the largest collection of Fast radio bursts (FRBs) in the telescope’s first FRB catalogue.

Its significance:

While catching sight of an FRB is considered a rare thing in the field of radio astronomy, prior to the CHIME project, radio astronomers had only caught sight of around 140 bursts in their scopes since the first FRB was spotted in 2007.

About:

Fast radio bursts (FRBs):

FRBs are oddly bright flashes of light, registering in the radio band of the electromagnetic spectrum, which blaze for a few milliseconds before vanishing without a trace.

These brief and mysterious beacons have been spotted in various and distant parts of the universe, as well as in our own galaxy.

Their origins are unknown and their appearance is highly unpredictable.

The CHIME project:

  • It is a large stationary radio telescope in British Columbia, Canada.
  • The telescope receives radio signals each day from half of the sky as the Earth rotates.
  • The telescope has no moving parts and observes half of the sky each day as the Earth turns.
  • CHIME is a partnership between the University of British Columbia, McGill University, the University of Toronto and the Canadian National Research Council’s Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory.
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