The cosmos can seem like a cold and terrifying void; But, in reality, in space an incessant traffic of radiation continually flows, coming from the celestial bodies that emit it: stars like our Sun, neutron stars, or even entire galaxies …
There is a specific type of radiation called fast radio bursts or FRBs , for short, fast radio bursts . Scientists have been hunting for these bursts for a decade, but it is an arduous task, since their presence lasts only a few milliseconds in detection instruments; furthermore, they could come from anywhere in the universe. Despite detecting hundreds of bursts like these, scientists have only been able to determine the origin of two of them. The first, in 2017; and the second, now.
The new detection, moreover, is most unusual; Not only because FRBs are very elusive, but because their origin is a galaxy very similar to ours , the Milky Way.
The finding was made thanks to eight telescopes located from the United Kingdom to China, and was published on January 6 in the journal Nature .
But this detection raises more questions than answers.
According to the authors of the research, what is relevant about this radiation explosion is not so much the detection itself, but its origin. Why?
“What is very interesting about these FRBs is that they have originated in the arm of a spiral galaxy similar to the Milky Way, and it is the closest burst to Earth that we have located so far, ” say the scientists.
How has this detection occurred?
The technique used is known as very long baseline interferometry, through the CHIME telescope , which achieved a level of resolution high enough to locate the explosion in a region approximately seven light-years across , a feat comparable to that of of an individual on Earth capable of distinguishing a person on the Moon.
At 500 million light-years from Earth, the source of this explosion, called “FRB 180916”, is seven times closer than the only other repeat explosion ever located , and more than 10 times closer than any of the few. repetitive explosions that scientists have managed to identify.
The unique proximity and repetition of this FRB could allow observation at other wavelengths and the potential for more detailed study to understand the nature of these types of bursts.
What could be producing these bursts?
As we have discussed, stellar objects produce radiation. But human-made artifacts, too. Does this mean that some kind of artificial object created by some unknown civilization is what is causing these bursts? And that, in addition, this place would be very similar and close to our own galaxy?
The first detection of FRBs was discovered in a small “dwarf” galaxy that contained metals and already formed stars. But these FRBs break the uniqueness of the old mold, which means that we have to consider perhaps multiple origins or a broader range of theories to understand what creates FRBs. But we still cannot make such a risky conclusion about the origin of this radiation.
Image : Artist’s conception of the location of FRB 180916.J0158 + 65 to its host galaxy / artsource.nl
Reference : B. Marcote et al. A repeating fast radio burst source localized to a nearby spiral galaxy , Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038 / s41586-019-1866-z
