Australian researchers using a CSIRO radio telescope in Western Australia have nearly doubled the known number of "fast radio bursts"; powerful flashes of radio waves from deep space.

The discoveries include the closest and brightest fast radio bursts ever detected.

University of Sydney astronomer Professor Elaine Sadler, who was part of the team, said: "At the moment, no one really knows what causes fast radio bursts, or why they are so powerful. Being able to find more of them to study is a really important step in working out what they are and why they happen."

The team’s findings were reported today in the journal Nature.

Fast radio bursts come from all over the sky and last for just milliseconds.

Scientists don’t know what causes them but it involves incredible energy – equivalent to the amount released by the Sun in 80 years in just a few milliseconds.

"We’ve found 20 fast radio bursts in a year, almost doubling the number detected worldwide since they were discovered in 2007," said lead author Dr Ryan Shannon, from Swinburne University of Technology and the OzGrav ARC Centre of Excellence.

"Using the new technology of the Australia Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), we’ve also proved that fast radio bursts are coming from the distant universe rather than from our own galactic neighbourhood."