An American research team has discovered radio pulses emanating from a mysterious and repeating source – FRB 121102 – far across the universe.
The 15 radio pulses emanate from a galaxy three billion light-years away, and the researchers are still not sure what the source of the signals could be.
It is researchers working at the Breakthrough Listen‘ project that detected the signals. A project founded with large contributions from private financiers, it is currently the most comprehensive search for extraterrestrial intelligence in outer space.
The signals have been captured by several telescopes around the world. More than 150 high-energy bursts have been observed coming from the object. But these signals detected by researchers at the University in California are both stronger and clearer than those seen before. Exactly what causes them is still unknown.
They are high-energy signals, short pulses that repeat themselves. They aren’t all that dissimilar from other signals detected before. Besides the elephant in the room, namely aliens, it may be a type of neutron star that has very strong magnetic fields that rotate and send out pulses, according to the researchers, a so-called magnetar.
The signals come from the only known place in the universe where the signals repeat, making it easier to search for the source. In addition, an explosion can be ruled out, as it is constantly repeated.
Addressing aliens seems kind of necessary, hypothetically, if there is a civilization that has managed to produce spacecraft that run at extremely high speeds that require extreme amounts of energy to run. This could be something similar to a bow-wave from a boat on the fabric of space-time.
The signals were derived from a dwarf galaxy, a staggering three billion light-years away. This means that the signals are extremely powerful to successfully get through all that background noise it encounters in space during their path here. It also makes the hypothetical extraterrestrial intelligent civilization a little far-fetched.
First detected with the Parkes Telescope in Australia, fast radio bursts have now been seen by several radio telescopes around the world. FRB 121102 was discovered on Nov. 2, 2012 (hence its name), and in 201,5 it was the first fast radio burst seen to repeat
Reference:
Berkley News: Distant galaxy sends out 15 high-energy radio bursts