Lost Echoes of Some Young Yet Ancient Star

Fast radio bursts come from outer space,

We measure them and try to plot their trace;

First thought to be some cataclysmic scar,

Lost echoes of some young yet ancient star.

A thousandth of a second in their beat,

We now know that some of these sounds repeat;

Recordings of a powerful pulsar,

Lost echoes of some young yet ancient star.

Their brightness and their spectra are unique,

Helping to break down some of their mystique;

An origin we only know as far,

Lost echoes of some young yet ancient star.

Fast radio bursts come from outer space,

Lost echoes of some young yet ancient star.

This is a Kyrielle Sonnet that was written about this piece of research, in which fast radio bursts were observed in a repeating pattern for the first time. This would seem to indicate that they were probably produced by a rotating neutron star, rather than by a supernovae or black hole, as was previously thought to be the case, when bursts were only observed singularly and in a seemingly random pattern.

An audio version of this poem can be heard here.