Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory detects mysterious “fast radio burst” from deep in outer space

10 years ago | Posted in: science | 777 Views

A TELESCOPE in Puerto Rico has confirmed what Australian astronomers have known for a while: There are mysterious sounds emanating from deep in outer space. The Arecibo Observatory has picked up split-second bursts of radio waves from beyond the Milky Way, which have excited astronomers from around the world, science website Phys.org reports. Parkes’ radio telescope in central NSW was the first to discover these curious pulses, but some scientists wrote these off because it was the only facility to report the findings.

But now the Puerto Rico telescope’s international team of astronomers has detected similar intergalactic radio wave bursts. “Our result is important because it eliminates any doubt that these radio bursts are truly of cosmic origin,” principal investigator for the pulsar survey Victoria Kaspi said.
“The radio waves show every sign of having come from outside our galaxy — a really exciting prospect.”

So what is the source of the unidentified sounds?
This question presents a perplexing mystery for astrophysicists and there is no consensus.
Possible answers include evaporating black holes, the merging of neutron stars or flares from magnetars (neutron stars with powerful magnetic fields)…. see more

source: news.com.au

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