rotating radio transient

A rotating radio transient (RRAT) is a type of repeating radio transient first described in 2006 that are not seen as a steady stream of pulses, but do repeat sporadically. The term is used for those with a dispersion measure large enough to place the source beyond the solar system but within the Milky Way. They are interpreted as a particularly energetic pulses of a pulsar that is otherwise too dim to be detected, typically with no more than a few pulses per day bright enough to be detected. Probable rotation periods have been derived from their observation data. Some known pulsars, such as the Crab Nebula pulsar show similar giant pulses (GPs). The term RRAT is also used for a source of such transients, which can be thought of as a pulsar discovered through fast radio burst searches rather than pulsar searches.