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Astronomers have detected a radio signal from the Milky Way. The signal obtained is called fast radio burst, which lasts milliseconds and comes from the depths of outer space.
Because the radio signal was so brief, it was only identified after being recorded in the satellite data. Scientists are currently still trying to figure out where those signals come from.
This is not the first time that satellites capture radio signals from space. The first FRBs were identified more than a decade ago. Theories from its sources include cataclysmic events, particularly when two neutron stars collide with each other or a collapsing black hole.
However, these assumptions were discarded when another FRB was detected. According to scientists, a black hole can only collapse once, suggesting that the source could be something else.
An international group of scientists has come together over the years to solve the FRB mystery. As the years passed, more cases of FRB occurred. Earlier this year, a group of experts tracked an FRB to a strange V-shaped star-shaped region in a vast spiral galaxy 500 million light-years away.
The latest detection was revealed in The Astronomer’s Telegram, saying that the brilliant radio explosion came from the active magnetar known as SGR 1935 + 2154. This is a type of neutron star, the collapsed nucleus of a massive star believed to have a convincing magnetic field.
The information was collected on Tuesday. Scientists must first study the explosion and validate their findings. If proven correct, they say it would be the first FRB detected to originate from our own galaxy.
So far, other researchers studying FRB have welcomed the findings. Jason W. T. Hessels, chief scientist at ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, described the discovery as a “breakthrough” for the field.
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Hessels said popping magnetars is being vigorously considered as a source of some FRBs. However, he says there is still a key question. Do all FRBs come from magnetar outbursts, or do they come from a variety of varied origins?
Hessels also mentioned that it was interesting that an X-ray explosion was detected at the same location. He says it helps show how the explosion released a lot of energy.
According to him, it helps scientists understand what really happened to the neutron star and its magnetosphere.
Andrew Siemion, Director of the Berkeley SETI Research Center and Principal Investigator for Breakthrough Listen, described the results as “very exciting.” He said one of the crucial questions about FRBs is what is generating them. He said that if the results are shown to be accurate, it would be “strong evidence” that some FRBs arise from magnetars.
Siemion said the link between magnetars and the occurrence of FRB would still raise some critical questions. Some of these would question why only certain magnetars produce FRB, and what gives rise to the repetition observed in specific FRB sources. Another question that remains unanswered is whether there is the possibility of a second or third single pulse FRB source regardless of the magnetar model.
Providing answers to such questions will require more observations, but knowing that sources like SGR 1935 + 2134 can produce bright radio pulses provides a supporting clue as to where scientists should be looking, he says.
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