KATHMANDU: Astronomers this week claimed they spotted a super-bright blast of radio waves originating within the Milky Way.

Several such bursts were sighted in other galaxies in the previous years. However, the outburst in the galaxy, detected by two radio arrays in April this year, was in fact close enough to notice that it was generated by a magnetic neutron star known as ‘magnetar’.

These observations are smoking guns that magnetars are behind some extragalactic fast radio bursts, which have defied explanation for over a decade.

According to Ben Margalit, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Berkeley, when they first heard about it, Ben said, “No way, too good to be true.”

“It’s an incredible discovery,” Ben said.

Researchers have noted that an intense radio outburst from an active magnetar about 30,000 light-years away — particularly dubbed SGR 1935+2154, in an astronomer’s telegram.

According to the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, it had detected about 30 decillion of energy from the burst.

The burst was brighter than any flash of radio waves earlier seen from any of the five magnetars in and around the Milky Way.

(With inputs from Agencies)