One of the two most terrifying “monsters” in the universe may be the source of the most unusual radio signals ever recorded, which China’s FAST Telescope has captured since 2022.
A research team from Western Sydney University (Australia), West Virginia University (USA), and the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has sought to decode FRB 20190520B, an unusual source of fast radio bursts (FRBs) that repeats continuously.
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China discovered this mysterious extraterrestrial signal in 2022.
China’s giant FAST telescope – (Photo: AP).
Repeating radio bursts are already rare, but FRB 20190520B is even more unusual because since its discovery, FAST and other observatories have continuously received new signals from this source, several times an hour, without interruption, sometimes at different radio frequencies.
According to an article by the international research team in The Conversation, they had to mobilize additional powerful radio telescopes like the Parkes Telescope of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) located in New South Wales and the Green Bank Telescope in the USA, located at the observatory of the same name in West Virginia.
They found that it is a polarized signal, changing at different frequencies, indicating that it is immersed in a highly ionized environment.
The intensity of the signal also varies over the 16 months of observation, even completely reversing direction twice, a phenomenon never before seen in repeating radio bursts.
Analysis suggests that it originates from a dense dwarf galaxy, located 3.9 billion light-years away from us.
There are two most likely objects responsible for the signal: a supermassive black hole or a neutron star engaged in a deadly dance with another companion star. Neutron stars are a staggering form of “zombie” star, remnants of giant stars that have died.
All these discoveries are just the beginning, as the “monster” FRB 20190520B continues to emit strong signals, continuously reaching Earth-based observatories. Its unique nature and continuous repetition urge scientists to continue researching for more specific answers.
What causes these radio bursts remains a significant question that has persisted for nearly two decades since the first known fast radio burst. White dwarf mergers, neutron stars, black holes, or an extraterrestrial civilization with superior technology… are leading hypotheses, yet none has been proven with conclusive evidence.
