The faintest radio wave burst ever detected by humanity could help unravel the long-standing mystery of this eerie cosmic signal.
A new study led by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) has pinpointed the origin of the peculiar signal coded FRB20201124A captured by the world’s most sensitive radio telescope, the Very Large Array (VLA, located in the United States).
The mysterious object sending out this signal is not a black hole merger, a neutron star, or extraterrestrial technology, but rather one of the most beautiful and enigmatic structures in the universe.
A magnetar and its stunning surrounding nebula may be the source of the powerful and mysterious radio signal that frequently stirs Earth-based observatories – (Graphic: NSF/AUI/NRAO)
According to SciTech Daily, FRB20201124A is a radio wave burst, one of the most intriguing astronomical signals for scientists.
These bursts last only a few milliseconds but release an enormous amount of energy, making them one of the highest-energy sources observed in cosmic phenomena.
This is why FRB20201124A can reach Earth-based observatories despite its source being located 1.3 billion light-years away.
Due to this immense distance, FRB20201124A appears very faint in the VLA data, arguably the weakest radio burst ever recorded.
However, it has allowed astronomers to establish a groundbreaking model that could explain the common origins of radio wave bursts.
The most plausible source for FRB20201124A is a massive plasma bubble, potentially created by the continuous radio emission from a magnetar or a high-accretion X-ray binary star system.
This bubble forms a beautiful, eerie nebula, with the “core” being the active magnetar, which could be observed in the light collected by radio telescopes, if we were close enough.
A magnetar is also a type of neutron star, but it is an extremely powerful variant, much stronger than typical neutron stars.
Neutron stars are the remnants of giant stars that have “died,” small yet incredibly dense and energetic.
Meanwhile, the high-accretion X-ray binary system would include a neutron star or black hole, drawing material from a companion star at a very high rate.
The detailed study has just been published in the scientific journal Nature, involving numerous research institutions from Italy, China, the United States, Spain, and Germany. However, the authors note that understanding the feasible origins of radio wave bursts is just one piece of the larger puzzle regarding the nature of these mysterious cosmic signals.
