“This detection raises the question of what could cause this extreme signal that we’ve never seen before, and how we can use this signal to study the universe,” Michilli said. This could help them better understand where it came from and learn more about the general nature of neutron stars. They are hoping to capture additional observations of the signal. The astronomers said the new signal is the longest lasting and has the clearest periodic pattern than any FRBs observed before. The scientists are not sure why the FRB would be so much brighter. However, the team noted that the unusual FRB appears to be more than a million times brighter than those observed in the Milky Way. Their conclusion about where the signal came from was based on data collected on pulsars and magnetars observed in our own galaxy. “We think this new signal could be a magnetar or pulsar on steroids,” Michilli said. A magnetar is a neutron star with a very strong magnetic field. A pulsar is a fast-spinning neutron star. This led the team to believe that the unusual FRB may have come from two kinds of neutron stars, a pulsar or a magnetar. He says there are not many things in the universe that give off the kind of “periodic signals” the telescope observed. He helped lead the research for the university’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. The researchers said the newly observed FRB was also unusual because it appeared to repeat a continuous pattern, “similar to a beating heart.” Most FRBs observed in the past generally lasted for a few milliseconds before disappearing.ĭaniele Michilli is a postdoctoral candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A light year is the distance light travels in one year, about nine trillion kilometers. The scientists say they think the signal came from a distant galaxy several billion light years from Earth. But the telescope’s operators say it is also good at picking up signals from FRBs. (Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF/Handout via REUTERS)ĬHIME was designed to observe radio waves given off by hydrogen gas in distant galaxies. Several Canadian and American universities support the project.Īrtist's conception of a neutron star with an ultra-strong magnetic field, called a magnetar. The telescope sits near the southwestern Canadian city of Kaleden. The new FRB was first observed in December 2019 by a radio telescope called the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, or CHIME. But the new signal lasted up to three seconds – about 1,000 timer longer – the team explains in a statement. The researchers reporting the latest FRB say it was unusual because the signal lasted much longer than others observed. A neutron star is thought to form after the gravitational collapse of a larger star that explodes at the end of its life. But they have theorized the signals could be produced by neutron stars. Since then, hundreds of the signals have been observed by large telescopes in different parts of the world.Īstronomers are not sure what causes FRBs. These signals are pulses of radio waves that scientists say can come from places within our own Milky Way galaxy or others. The signal is known as a fast radio burst, or FRB. Some of the strongest sources of noise include the Sun, pulsars, quasars, radio galaxies, and nebulas.Researchers say they have discovered a new, unusual radio signal from a distant galaxy. Radio astronomers have to separate the satellite's radio signal from the rest of the noise, and almost everything in space is producing some noise. a stronger signal) than DS1's small transmitter. When dealing with deep space transmissions like those DS1 is performing, there are many sources of noise, most of those much "louder" (i.e. You've most likely had experience with radio noise without even knowing it-you see static on your television or hear it on your radio because of interference. "Noise" is just another name for any unwanted interference with a radio signal. Of the spacecraft's signal level to the level coming from other sources is known Radio signals that mix in with the spacecraft signals. The problem is that thereĪre lots of other things, both natural and human-made, that create background Signals are generated at pre-established frequencies. Receivers for sending radio signals to and from Earth-based stations. What interferes with radio waves in space?Īll deep space vehicles are equipped with radio transmitters and
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