25 Mysterious Sources Emitting What Is Known as “Fast Radio Bursts” Identified by Canadian Scientists.
Fast Radio Bursts (FRB) remain one of the most enigmatic forms of signals. A few originate from within the Milky Way galaxy (the galaxy that contains Earth), while the majority come from incredibly distant sources in deep space.
They are powerful enough to illuminate entire galaxies from which they originate, yet their exact nature remains a mystery. Some hypotheses suggest they are caused by collisions of “zombie” neutron stars, others propose merging supermassive black holes, and some even consider extraterrestrial civilizations.
A map showing the fast radio bursts that have been detected in the sky – (Image: NRAO).
Thus, capturing these fast radio bursts, especially the rare repeating signals that continuously “bombard” Earth-based observatories, is something scientists have long anticipated. Repeating signals provide additional opportunities to determine their origins.
According to Space, a collaborative team of scientists from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME/FRB) and the University of Toronto has identified an additional 25 fast radio bursts in their recent study, all of which are of the repeating type.
This discovery has doubled the total number of repeating fast radio bursts identified by Earth-based observatories to 50.
The researchers also noted that the two populations of fast radio bursts – one-time emitters and repeaters – appear to exhibit different characteristics, including their duration and the frequency range at which they are observed.
To uncover this “treasure” of 25 mysterious signals, scientists mobilized multiple radio astronomical observatories, with the primary instrument being the CHIME telescope located at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (Canada), which scans the entire northern sky daily.
Data regarding the 25 new signal sources will be shared with the scientific community for further analysis to uncover the truth about what cosmic monsters emit them or the rare chance of extraterrestrial friends.
The study was recently published in the scientific journal The Astrophysical Journal.
