The mysterious rapidly repeating signal from space has returned

The FRB 121102 signal maintained its periodicity of 157 days.

FRB (fast-radio burst) is a signal that lasts in the order of microseconds to milliseconds and thanks to this “feature” it is difficult to determine the source of the transmission, so far they have managed to locate eight. It was first spotted FRB in 2007, so it is a fairly new and unexplored enough phenomenon in radio-astronomy. What causes them is not yet clear. Conjectures about their origin include hypotheses of sources from neutron stars, black holes, magnetars to extraterrestrial civilizations. Their other properties are high energy that reaches radiated signal, in the order that the energy equivalent of what radiates the sun for 100 years in a flash. The signal is already significantly weakened, up to a thousand times weaker than what your mobile phone emits.

The first signs of the signal were captured as early as 2012, but it is still not known exactly where it came from. Researchers led by Marilyn Cruces of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy accurately predicted its periodicity, which is 67 days of “silence” and 90 days of rapid flashes in milliseconds.

FRB signal follows the scientific team of the China National Astronomical Observatory led by Pei Wang, which signals follow five hundred-meter radio telescope from March to August. However, the Chinese team set a different recurrence period for FRB 121102 at 156.1 days.

Image source: Wikipedia

From March to June were caught no glimpses of the signal, but the turning point came on Aug. 17 and still there were captured twelve, suggesting that the source is active again. The location of these rapidly repeating signals has been preliminarily determined by a dwarf galaxy 3 billion light-years away. As the signal repeats in millisecond flashes, the problem is to determine its exact position and scientists will continue to monitor it. Another interesting feature of the signal is its strength. It has the energy of millions of suns radiated in one flash.

Image source: EarthSky

Resources: Futurism, ScienceAlert,

Source: Technológie by

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