Mysterious radio signals from space

Scientists have for the first time directly recorded mysterious radio signals from a strange source, about 5.5 billion light years from Earth.

Mysterious radio signals observed with the Parkes telescope. Photo: Swinburne Astronomy Productions

In a report published this week, a team of astronomers at Swinburne University of Technology in eastern Australia detected a fast radio burst (FRB) on May 14 last year. The signal lasted just a few milliseconds, but emitted as much energy as the sun does in a day, said Daniel Malesani, an astrophysicist at the University of Copenhagen.

The location of the radio waves is about 5.5 billion light years from Earth. The origin of the radio waves is still a mystery. Based on the observed light polarization, they determined that the burst may be formed from a magnetic field. According to the hypothesis, FRBs may be related to neutron stars or black holes.

“These outbreaks are often detected weeks or months, or even more than 10 years, after they occur. But we are the first to document one of them in real time,” said Emily Petroff, who led the research team.

FRBs are bursts of radio waves from space that last only a few milliseconds. Only seven have been detected since 2007, using old data from the Parkes radio telescope in eastern Australia and the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico. They are considered “one of the greatest mysteries in the universe.”

According to VnExpress