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Mar 4 16 8:30 AM
Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are a source of endless fascination. But despite a decade of observations, not all astronomers are sure that they’re real. A study out in Nature today, which reports the very first recurring FRB, may cause lingering skepticism to evaporate. “I think this is pretty huge,” Peter Williams, an astronomer at Harvard’s Center for Astrophysics who was not involved with the study, told Gizmodo. “For awhile, I wasn’t sure these things were genuinely astrophysical. This paper settles the question.” And Williams is not one to take splashy new claims about FRBs—high energy radio pulses of unknown origin, which flit across the sky for a fraction of a second—lightly. In fact, he’s spent the last week raising major doubts about another recent study, which, as Gizmodo and other outlets reported, claimed to have pinpointed the location of an FRB in space for the first time.
Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are a source of endless fascination. But despite a decade of observations, not all astronomers are sure that they’re real. A study out in Nature today, which reports the very first recurring FRB, may cause lingering skepticism to evaporate.
“I think this is pretty huge,” Peter Williams, an astronomer at Harvard’s Center for Astrophysics who was not involved with the study, told Gizmodo. “For awhile, I wasn’t sure these things were genuinely astrophysical. This paper settles the question.”
And Williams is not one to take splashy new claims about FRBs—high energy radio pulses of unknown origin, which flit across the sky for a fraction of a second—lightly. In fact, he’s spent the last week raising major doubts about another recent study, which, as Gizmodo and other outlets reported, claimed to have pinpointed the location of an FRB in space for the first time.
Read more @ http://gizmodo.com/cosmic-radio-bursts-are-real-but-theyre-more-mysteriou-1762041397?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_twitter&utm_source=io9_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow
They recorded the radio pulse beeping from what they call an “extremely powerful object” outside the Milky Way.Experts described the find as “very exciting” while UFO hunters are sure it is E.T. trying to ping us a line.Space researchers have in the past picked up unexplained signals in space but they are usually “one-off events”.But this time the pulse they zoned in on is repeating.That has left scientists baffled as to who and what is behind it.Canadian PhD student Paul Scholz, of McGill University in Montreal, described the mystery beeping as “very exciting”.He said: “I knew immediately that the discovery was going to be extremely important.”Scientists used to think that fast radio bursts were caused by massive events – such as stars exploding into supernovas.
They recorded the radio pulse beeping from what they call an “extremely powerful object” outside the Milky Way.
Experts described the find as “very exciting” while UFO hunters are sure it is E.T. trying to ping us a line.
Space researchers have in the past picked up unexplained signals in space but they are usually “one-off events”.
But this time the pulse they zoned in on is repeating.
That has left scientists baffled as to who and what is behind it.
Canadian PhD student Paul Scholz, of McGill University in Montreal, described the mystery beeping as “very exciting”.
He said: “I knew immediately that the discovery was going to be extremely important.”
Scientists used to think that fast radio bursts were caused by massive events – such as stars exploding into supernovas.
Read more @ http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/498735/ET-phones-home-Radio-signal-outer-space
For the first time, enigmatic signals are coming from the same faraway source. Pew! Pew! Pew! In November 2012, a powerful blast of radio waves hit the Earth. This event—called a fast radio burst—intrigued scientists with its extreme energy, faraway origin, and seeming lack of clues about whatever mysterious astrophysical engine had blasted the waves into space. But unlike the few fast radio bursts that had been observed before, this one was destined to be more than a one-hit wonder. In early 2015, another blast of radio waves was fired by the same unknown engine. And another. And then another, and another, until finally, over a period of three hours, a total of ten additional bursts emerged from the same location on the sky. It’s the first time astronomers have caught a fast radio burst in the act of repeating, and—as reported this week in Nature—the observations provide crucial clues about the origin of these bursts, which have stumped astronomers for nearly a decade. “I just plain love this discovery,” says astronomer Emily Petroff of the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy. “The observations and data are very solid. A super fascinating result and definitely a really big deal.” Until now, fast radio bursts were generally thought to be the result of cataclysmic, one-time astrophysical events such as supernovas, stars collapsing into black holes, or colliding stars. That’s because no one had ever seen a burst go off more than once. But if the same source continues firing radio waves into space, that rules out a bunch of ideas. It’s not like a supernova can put the band back together and go on a revival tour.
For the first time, enigmatic signals are coming from the same faraway source. Pew! Pew! Pew!
In November 2012, a powerful blast of radio waves hit the Earth. This event—called a fast radio burst—intrigued scientists with its extreme energy, faraway origin, and seeming lack of clues about whatever mysterious astrophysical engine had blasted the waves into space.
But unlike the few fast radio bursts that had been observed before, this one was destined to be more than a one-hit wonder.
In early 2015, another blast of radio waves was fired by the same unknown engine. And another. And then another, and another, until finally, over a period of three hours, a total of ten additional bursts emerged from the same location on the sky.
It’s the first time astronomers have caught a fast radio burst in the act of repeating, and—as reported this week in Nature—the observations provide crucial clues about the origin of these bursts, which have stumped astronomers for nearly a decade.
“I just plain love this discovery,” says astronomer Emily Petroff of the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy. “The observations and data are very solid. A super fascinating result and definitely a really big deal.”
Until now, fast radio bursts were generally thought to be the result of cataclysmic, one-time astrophysical events such as supernovas, stars collapsing into black holes, or colliding stars. That’s because no one had ever seen a burst go off more than once. But if the same source continues firing radio waves into space, that rules out a bunch of ideas. It’s not like a supernova can put the band back together and go on a revival tour.
Read more @ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160302-fast-radio-burst-discovery-magnetar-repeated-waves/
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