For decades, astronomers have been puzzled by the detection of random, mysterious radio bursts that seemingly originate from deep space. Recently, a team announced the detection of another one of these puzzling radio bursts, which was observed by two NASA X-ray telescopes — the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) and Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) telescopes, which both operate from low-Earth orbit.
The radio burst observed by NICER and NuSTAR is called a “fast radio burst” and was detected by both telescopes just minutes before and minutes after the event occurred. The detection of the burst by both telescopes at the same time has provided scientists with unprecedented amounts of data, allowing them to zoom into the radio burst and gain a better understanding of the extreme nature of the phenomenon.