Recently, researchers from the Curtin University in Australia noticed bursts of light in outback Western Australia. They used a new technique to use a telescope to detect these signals. The team was led by Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker, head of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research. She explained that the object was erratic and appeared and disappeared over a few hours. In addition, the signal appeared and disappeared at different times, which indicates that it was a natural phenomenon.
In the same way, astronomers recently discovered a new source of fast radio bursts (FRBs) in deep space. These radio waves can last for a fraction of a millisecond, but they also repeat in unexplained periodic patterns. In May 2019, astronomers detected a signal from this source. Further study showed that this source is located far outside of our galaxy, four billion light years away. Observations also showed that the signals had a fainter source than previously observed.
Radio Signals From Outer Space
A mysterious object in outer space has been sending out radio waves in the past decade. The scientists observed the object while mapping radio frequencies in deep space. It was emitting a low-frequency radio signal every 18 minutes for several months. These pulses lasted 30 seconds to a minute and were among the brightest sources of radio waves visible from Earth. The scientists observed the energy pulses in January and March of this year, but they haven’t seen them since.
A distant radio pulsar, or radio source, ejected a massive burst of waves in the past, which was observed by CHIME. It is a rare event that can help track the expansion of the universe. By studying the frequency of these bursts, researchers can better understand how the universe is expanding. And if we find more of these bursts in the future, we can use them as a cosmic clock.
The mysterious radio signals have astronomers wondering what they are and how they happened. Fortunately, they have a new way to find out. In fact, scientists have discovered the second radio repeater. This time, they were tuned up a new telescope using the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, or CHIME. Scientists announced the discovery in a pair of Nature papers and a news conference at the American Astronomical Society’s meeting in Seattle.
These FRBs were initially discovered in 2007, and hundreds of others have been found in the past fifteen years. The next FRB was discovered in 2020 with the CHIME radio telescope. It has a brightness nearly a million times that of radio pulsars. It was then confirmed that the signal came from a nearby galaxy. If it is a radio pulsar, it is probably a magnetic star.
The FRBs are incredibly brief. They occur once every billion years and are characterized by a short, whirling pulse of light. Although scientists had previously dismissed these FRBs as local effects or instrumental glitches, recent research supports the idea that they are the result of bursts of young magnetars. Among other things, these objects are the strongest magnets in the universe. In the long run, scientists hope to find a way to detect them.