Fast radio bursts (FRBs) belong to the list of the least-understood events in astronomy. With the help of Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico, researchers have witnessed an FRB emitting repeat bursts. It is for the first time that such an event has been witnessed by astronomers.

The discovery of the repeating FRB has been made when the researchers examined last year’s Arecibo data, when the largest radio telescope in the world surveyed the 17 known locations for fast radio bursts.

Analysis suggested that at least one of the targets, codenamed as FRB 121102, was sending out a repeating signal. The latest FRB on record was reported only a week before the newly announced phenomenon was shared by astronomers.

Previously some astronomers suggested that the events that caused the bursts may be cataclysmic explosions. The latest analysis can apparently oppose that theory.

Shami Chatterjee, a senior researcher at Cornell University, said, “In our paper, we're showing that our FRB can't have an explosive origin. So, either there’s an odd coincidence, or maybe there are different types of FRBs. Either way, it seems we've broken this enigmatic phenomenon wide open”.

The objects send out a series of energy bursts, and every single pulse lasts around 1/100 second. The signal repeats thousands of times every day. If we think logically, the process producing FRBs shouldn’t destroy the star or body at the energy discharge epicenter.

Still, the debate is on over what results into fast radio bursts. But, their sources seem to be far out in space, indicating that the events are very powerful, for being accountable for the amount of energy hitting the Earth.