- Astronomers discovered a repeated fast radio that lasted 1,000 times longer than average bursts.
- Researchers hope that by studying the explosion, its origin can be identified.
- Hundreds of rapid bursts have been detected since the first cosmic flash was discovered in 2007.
Loading Something is loading.
Astronomers have discovered a strange and persistent radio signal from a galaxy about a billion light-years away. The study of these flares could provide clues about their mysterious origins and give researchers a glimpse of the far reaches of the cosmos.
Rapid radio bursts are intense, but brief flashes of radio waves that originate millions or billions of light-years away from Earth. The first of these cosmic flashes, known as the “Lorimer burst,” was discovered in 2007. Since then, hundreds of fast radios have been detected, but their exact astrophysical origins remain a mystery.
Fast radio bursts usually last milliseconds. But the newly detected signal, called FRB 20191221A, lasts about three seconds, about 1,000 times longer than average, according to the new study, which was published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
On December 21, 2019, astronomers monitoring data from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping (CHIME) experiment detected a signal that caught their attention.
“I inspected the signal in the eye and noticed that it was made up of multiple pulses: it looked a bit like an electrocardiogram,” Daniele Michilli, an MIT postdoctoral researcher and co-author of the study that saw the incoming data from CHIME.
After further inspection, Michilli and his team found that the signal contained a clear periodic pattern, similar to a heartbeat, which was repeated every 0.2 seconds. “This surprised us a lot, because there aren’t many sources in the universe that can produce that kind of signal,” Michilli said.
There are two examples of predictable and reliable signals in our own galaxy, Michilli said, magnets and radio pulsars. A magnetar is a dense, dying star with an incredibly powerful magnetic field. A pulsar is the rotating remains of an exploded star, which emits narrow rays of radio waves, sweeping the Earth like the beacon of a lighthouse. Astronomers use these constantly repeating signals “to study the universe and investigate our theories,” Michilli said.
Most fast radio bursts are only written once, Michilli said, but the signal is rarely repeated and reliably detected. A repeated signal would allow astronomers to point telescopes at that specific part of the sky and study the explosion in more detail, he said, helping to reduce where it came from and what might be causing it.
The large CHIME radio telescope, which detected the explosion. CAMBELL
Although the new signal appears to be from a single event, with multiple peaks, like a beating heart, Michilli and her team have yet to see the explosion repeat.
“We look forward to continuing to monitor it to see additional bursts of fast radio and discover more of these repeated bursts in the future,” he said. To this end, CHIME is expanding, through a collaboration with additional North American telescopes, which will observe the same piece of sky together, in order to triangulate the locations of radio bursts and link them to galaxies. specific.
“We want to know exactly where they come from and study their local environment,” Michilli said, adding, “And in the future, we look forward to looking at some of them with this new James Webb space telescope, to see exactly what they are. what surrounds them “.