[emc3]

> located 11.7 million light-years from Earth

I might consider 11.7 light-years "unusual" or "baffling." But times that by a million and it becomes a lot less so.

[tlholaday]

Ahh, so blasé.

The farthest observable galaxy is 1.34 x 10^10 light years.

This FRB is 1.17 x 10^7 light years.

So if you're at zero and end of the line is at 1340, this FRB is at 1.17. That doesn't feel close?

[eindiran]

If you told me that the Mediterranean dried up "recently", with no other context, and you were referring to Messinian salinity crisis from 5 MYBP it would significantly limit my belief in your adherence to good-faith conversational form even if it is "recently" in a geological sense.

[perl4ever]

I think the article says it's 40 times nearer than the previous closest, which seems more relevant than the farthest galaxy.

[mgarfias]

The “Nearby” in the titles needed to be in scare quotes.