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Jan. 14, 2020
Astronomers have detected repetitive radio waves from a point in space. It is the first time that a signal has been located so close to Earth.
NGC 5879 galaxy (illustration). Image Credits: NASA/ESA/Hubble
Is there life outside of Earth? Perhaps. A Canadian telescope has been able to locate a mysterious radio signal emanating from a neighboring galaxy, announces the prestigious journal Nature in its latest edition.
Astronomers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver have detected repetitive radio waves from space. They come from a galaxy located 500 million light years from Earth. They shared their discovery at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle on January 7.
Illustration of Fast Radio Burst (FRB). Image Credit: Wikipedia
These radio waves, known as “FRB” (“Fast Radio Burst”), represent one of the strangest phenomena in the universe. Detected for the first time in 2007 only, they form rapid bursts that last only a few thousandths of a second. Found everywhere in the universe, these waves have origins that remain an enigma for astronomers to this day.
A first
They have been observed on numerous occasions already. But it is very rare that they are repetitive and come from the same place in the sky like the one that has just been detected. It is indeed only the 2nd time that such a wave is spotted and it is even the first time that it is so close. The first was detected in 2012, but it originated from a galaxy 2.5 billion light years away.
New radio waves from outer space have been detected by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment radio telescope, also known as CHIME. The findings were submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters. It described eight new repeating signals that were detected by the radio telescope.
Scientists detect mysterious radio signals from space
According to the EU Research & Innovation Magazine, these fast radio bursts, or FRBs, typically last only a few milliseconds but are able to emit more energy than 500 million suns. The telescope consists of four cylindrical reflectors, each of which are lined with 256 antennas. It continuously scans separate points in the sky, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, searching for FRBs, according to CHIME's website.
Image above: Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment radio telescope, also known as CHIME. Image Credit: CHIME.
In a separate study published in the journal Nature in January, CHIME had previously detected 13 fast radio bursts, only one of which was repeating.
This signal would now be close enough to be studied using other telescopes, says astronomer Mohit Bhardwaj. Finding its origin could help scientists not only discover its nature, but also learn more about the formation of the Universe.
Related link:
Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME): https://chime-experiment.ca/
Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: CHIME/Tomonews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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