The Signal That Crossed 130 Million Years to Reach Earth

A Mysterious Signal from Deep Space Just Found Its Cosmic Home

In March, a millisecond-long cosmic signal reached Earth — one of the brightest and fastest bursts of radio waves ever recorded.

Now, scientists have traced it back to a galaxy 130 million light-years away. What they found could change everything we know about these mysterious flashes from the deep universe.

The Signal That Spoke Volumes in Silence

The signal — officially named FRB 20250316A, but affectionately nicknamed RBFLOAT by astronomers — originated in a galaxy known as NGC 4141, located a mere 130 million light-years away. In cosmic terms, that’s right next door.

What makes this discovery so significant? It’s the first time scientists have pinpointed the exact location of a non-repeating fast radio burst (FRB) inside a neighboring galaxy. These bursts are notoriously elusive. They flash and vanish in the blink of an eye — quicker than a single blink, in fact.

What Are Fast Radio Bursts, Anyway?

Fast radio bursts are ultra-short pulses of radio waves that originate in space. Some repeat. Most don’t. And no one fully understands why they…