Only a week ago we reported that Australian astronomers received a mysterious radio signal from a distant galaxy located in four billion light years. This week, it was decided to surprise American scientists from the California Institute of Technology. Researchers report that they have caught a new single fast radio pulse (FRB). It is distinguished from other previously received signals by the fact that he came to us from a galaxy, which is very similar to our own Milky Way galaxy.
According to scientists, the signal source is located in the galaxy, which is 7.9 billion light-years. This is almost twice the source of the first signal received last week.
Such fast radio pulses are very difficult to determine, the researchers say. This is explained by the fact that their duration is only a few milliseconds. They are difficult to “catch.” At the same time, astronomers are very interested in them, because each such radio pulse is accompanied by the release of huge amounts of energy into outer space. Since 2007, only a few dozen of such radio bursts have been detected.
“It’s quite difficult to locate single FRB signals. This requires a radio telescope capable of detecting these extremely short events and having a mile-wide radio transmitter resolution, ”explains Vikram Ravi of the California Institute of Technology.
According to the researchers, the galaxy is the source of the new signal, called FRB 190523, similar to the Milky Way.
“This discovery shows that every galaxy, even one as ordinary as our Milky Way, can generate such signals,” astronomers explain.
Aliens or not?
Scientists do not know exactly what or who can create these signals. But they have several assumptions about this. Some believe that radio pulses can be the result of catastrophic events in space, for example, the death of specific stars – magnetars. A feature of these objects is that they have the strongest magnetic field in the Universe. Of course, there is an assumption that these signals can be created by intelligent life.
Even if they are aliens, they, apparently, are very ancient. After all, each such signal had to fly to us for billions of years.
