DDO Astronomy Speaker's Night - June 2026 - What (out of) the World are Fast Radio Bursts?

Speaker: Tobias Weiss

Topic: What (out of) the World are Fast Radio Bursts?

Visit a unique historical site in Richmond Hill and experience an engaging presentation led by experts and researchers in astronomy, covering a variety of exciting astronomy topics.

After the presentation, participants will tour the observatory and see a demonstration of the 74” telescope pointed to an interesting celestial object for the visitors to view (Weather Dependent).

Please wear / bring appropriate supplies for being outside.

All individuals/family members attending this program must be registered and a registered adult must accompany any registered participants under the age of 16.

Please arrive 15 minutes prior to the program start time in order to be signed in.

This program runs rain or shine. 

Who can attend: Ages 12 and up

Fee: See ActiveRH

Registration Link: ActiveRH

Location: David Dunlap Observatory (DDO)

Organized by: RASC, Toronto Centre

Abstract: 

About once every minute, a short pulse of radio light containing as much energy as the Sun puts out in three days reaches Earth. These pulses, which last less than a second, are known as Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), and radio telescopes across the world have detected over 4,000 of them since their discovery in 2007. The question on everyone's mind is: what could possibly be creating them? In this talk, we'll explore what we know about FRBs from almost two decades of observations and talk about some of the ideas theorists have proposed for FRB origins, ranging from ultra-high-magnetic-field neutron stars to alien civilizations generating their own light for solar sails to collisions between neutron stars and black holes. We'll look at ways that our observed data can provide evidence for or against different origins and see what the most recent evidence has to say about where FRBs come from.