For the first time, a fast radio burst — a mysterious, fleeting burst of astronomical radio waves — has been identified from within the Milky Way, NASA said Wednesday.

The fleeting signal flash stemmed from a magnetar, a type of neutron star, and turned up in late April, according to NASA. The new burst could potentially help unravel solar secrets.

Chris Bochenek, a doctoral student at the California Institute of Technology who studies astrophysics, said the discovery could help explain the way that fast radio bursts originate.

“While there may still be exciting twists in the story of FRBs in the future, for me, right now, I think it’s fair to say that most FRBs come from magnetars until proven otherwise," he said in a statement.

Fast radio bursts were first discovered in 2007. They last for just milliseconds.

For the first time, a fast radio burst — a mysterious, fleeting burst of astronomical radio waves — was spotted in the Milky Way, NASA said Wednesday.

Fast radio bursts

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Tim Balk

Nasa detected a fast radio burst from a magnetar within the Milky Way, potentially shedding light on solar secrets, with potential implications for astrophysics.

For the first time, a fast radio burst, a rare, fleeting burst of astronomical radio waves, has been identified from within the Milky Way. The signal flash originated from a magnetar, a type of neutron star, according to NASA. The discovery could potentially help unravel solar secrets. Chris Bochenek, a doctoral student at the California Institute of Technology, said the discovery could help explain the origin of fast radio bursts.

Fast radio burst spotted from within Milky Way, NASA says

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The moon was not in view during the crew’s orbit in the night portions — which meant the Milky Way’s main belt was bright enough for one of the astronauts, Matthew Dominick, to take a photograph just before sunrise.

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NASA astronaut captures photograph of Milky Way while orbiting Earth

When Andromeda slams into the Milky Way, a trillion new stars will light up the night skies above Earth. The cosmic merger, according to NASA, will result in a head-on collision on an unimaginable scale. Andromeda will warp the shape of the Milky Way and our Sun is likely to be punted to a different part of the galaxy. Before the comic event fully unfolds, the entirety of Andromeda will dominate the nighttime view from Earth.

NASA said: “The Milky Way is destined to get a major makeover during the encounter, which is predicted to happen four billion years from now. “It is likely the Sun will be flung into a new region of our galaxy, but our Earth and solar system are in no danger of being destroyed.” NASA astronomers announced the incredible forecast in May 2012, following a “painstaking” investigation by the Hubble Space Telescope. The orbital observatory measured the movements of Andromeda, or M31, as it slowly edges towards our galaxy. READ MORE: Hubble telescope just snapped the BIGGEST fireworks in the galaxy

When viewed at night, the galaxy is a small and hazy path of light that is indistinguishable from a regular star. But in about 3.75 billion years, the galaxy’s spiral features and the glow of its stellar gas will be revealed in plain sight. Sangmo Tony Sohn of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore said: “After nearly a century of speculation about the future destiny of Andromeda and our Milky Way, we at last have a clear picture of how events will unfold over the coming billions of years.” Andromeda is falling towards the Milky Way because both galaxies are pulling at one another with their gravities.

Vast quantities of invisible dark matter in-between the two galaxies are further facilitating the slow-motion collision. NASA said: “The scenario is like a baseball batter watching an oncoming fastball. "Although Andromeda is approaching us more than 2,000 times faster, it will take four billion years before the strike. “Computer simulations derived from Hubble's data show that it will take an additional two billion years after the encounter for the interacting galaxies to completely merge under the tug of gravity and reshape into a single elliptical galaxy similar to the kind commonly seen in the local universe.” READ MORE: What is the mysterious dark vortex NASA has just found on Neptune?

Thankfully, there is too much empty space in-between individual stars for the galactic merger to be cataclysmic. When the galaxies collide, stars will simply pass one another without ever encountering. The merger will, however, affect the orbits of the stars, sending them on brand new trajectories. According to NASA, this will cause our own solar system to be pushed back into a farther region of the galaxy.

NASA has warned the Andromeda galaxy and Milky will one day collide in a “titanic collision”, revealing what the night sky will look like just before it happens.

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Sebastian Kettley

The Andromeda galaxy, driven by gravitational forces, will create a massive starburst and reshape the Milky Way, impacting Earth's orbit and potentially shifting the Sun to a different region.

When Andromeda galaxy crashes into the Milky Way, a trillion new stars will be visible in the night skies above Earth, according to NASA. The collision, predicted to occur four billion years from now, will result in a head-on collision that will warp the shape of the MilkyWay and our Sun is likely to be moved to a different part of the galaxy. The discovery was made following a thorough investigation by the Hubble Space Telescope, which measured Andromeda's movements as it approached our galaxy. Despite the collision, Earth and solar systems are not expected to be destroyed. The merger will not be catastrophic as stars will simply pass each other without ever encountering.

NASA: The night skies will look like THIS when Andromeda galaxy crashes into the Milky Way

Experts have long known that planets would not be confined to our galaxy, but this is the first time that a celestial body has been discovered outside of the Milky Way. Researchers from the University of Oklahoma used microlensing – an astronomical phenomenon that allows scientists to use gravity from huge objects such as stars to peer hundreds of billions of lightyears into the universe – to detect the planets. The scientists say they have detected up to 2,000 planets beyond the Milky Way, in a galaxy around 3.8 billion light years away from Earth and ranging in mass sizes from the moon to Jupiter. University of Oklahoma researchers used NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory and were even able to see a quasar – a large celestial object – up to six billion lightyears away.

Xinyu Dai, professor in the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma College of Arts and Sciences, said: "We are very excited about this discovery. This is the first time anyone has discovered planets outside our galaxy. "These small planets are the best candidate for the signature we observed in this study using the microlensing technique. “We analysed the high frequency of the signature by modelling the data to determine the mass.”

The team, which published its research in The Astrophysical Journal were not able to observe the planets directly, but confirmed their presence thanks to the way that gravity bends light around them. University of Oklahoma postdoctoral researcher Eduardo Guerras said: "This is an example of how powerful the techniques of analysis of extragalactic microlensing can be. “This galaxy is located 3.8 billion light years away, and there is not the slightest chance of observing these planets directly, not even with the best telescope one can imagine in a science fiction scenario.

"However, we are able to study them, unveil their presence and even have an idea of their masses. This is very cool science." The gravitational microlensing technique was first predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity. The technique has already been used to 53 exoplanets within the Milky Way.

THOUSANDS of planets have been detected outside of the Milky Way Galaxy for the first time in a landmark discovery by a group of esteemed astronomers.

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Sean Martin

Researchers from the University of Oklahoma discovered 2,000 planets outside the Milky Way using microlensing, a technique harnessed by gravity, to study distant galaxies.

Researchers from the University of Oklahoma have discovered up to 2,000 planets outside of the Milky Way galaxy, in a galaxy around 3.8 billion light years away from Earth. The discovery was made using microlensing, a technique that allows scientists to use gravity from large objects to peer hundreds of billions of lightyears into the universe. The researchers used NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory to detect the planets, which range in mass sizes from the moon to Jupiter. They were not able to observe the planets directly, but confirmed their existence through the way gravity bends light around them. The technique has already been used to 53 exoplanets within the MilkyWay.

SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH: 2,000 planets detected outside Milky Way Galaxy

NASA spotted a feature resembling a candy cane at the center of a new colorful image of the Milky Way's central zone.

The beautiful image, which spans 190 light-years, is one of a set of long, thin strands of ionized gas called filaments. The picture depicts the inner part of our galaxy, which hosts the largest and densest collection of giant molecular clouds in the Milky Way.

These vast clouds contain enough dense gas and dust to form tens of millions of stars like the sun, the space agency said.

"It was a real surprise to see the Radio Arc in the GISMO data," Richard Arendt, a team member at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Goddard, said in the statement. "Its emission comes from high-speed electrons spiraling in a magnetic field, a process called synchrotron emission. Another feature GISMO sees, called the Sickle, is associated with star formation and may be the source of these high-speed electrons."

NASA SPOTS NEW MAGNETIC EXPLOSION ON THE SUN

Blue and cyan features reveal cold dust in molecular clouds where star formation is still very new. Yellow features, including the filaments making up the candy cane’s handle and the Sagittarius B1 molecular cloud, reveal the presence of ionized gas and show well-developed star factories, while the red and orange regions show areas where synchrotron emission occurs.

The image was published using an instrument known as the Goddard-IRAM Superconducting 2-Millimeter Observer (GISMO), which was built at the space agency's Goddard Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

NASA spotted a feature resembling a candy cane at the center of a new colorful image of the Milky Way's central zone.

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Christopher Carbone

NASA's GISMO image reveals a unique, bright, ionized "candy cane" feature in the Milky Way's central zone, possibly due to synchrotron emission and star formation.

NASA has revealed a feature resembling a candy cane in a new image of the Milky Way's central zone, which spans 190 light-years. The image is one of a set of long, thin strands of ionized gas called filaments and depicts the inner part of our galaxy, which is home to the largest and densest collection of giant molecular clouds in the galaxy. These clouds contain enough dense gas and dust to form tens of millions of stars like the sun. The picture was published using an instrument called the Goddard-IRAM Superconducting 2-Millimeter Observer (GISMO).

Top stories from around the web:

Fast radio burst spotted from within Milky Way, NASA says

NASA astronaut captures photograph of Milky Way while orbiting Earth

NASA: The night skies will look like THIS when Andromeda galaxy crashes into the Milky Way

SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH: 2,000 planets detected outside Milky Way Galaxy

NASA spots cosmic 'candy cane' in Milky Way

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