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Astronomers have just seen an extremely bright explosion of radio waves emanating from our own galaxy. Surprising observation could help us understand the mystery behind these enigmatic broadcasts, known as fast radio bursts.
Telescopes around the world share data on electromagnetic radiation coming from the direction of a highly magnetic neutron star, called magnetar SGR 1935 + 2154. These observations first reported by ScienceAlert, they represent the first such radio blast to originate within our own galaxy, although scientists are not ready to decisively consider the event of a rapid radio blast like those that have been documented from other galaxies.
Fast radio bursts they are exactly what they sound like: short, strong bursts of radio waves that we measure here on Earth, always originating from outside the Milky Way. Scientists discovered the first FRB with the Parkes radio telescope in 2001 and have found many more since, including those that repeat. Since these explosions come from distant galaxies, it has been difficult to determine what causes them, although magnetars such as SGR 1935 + 2154 have been considered most likely culprit.
Telescopes, including Neil Gehrels’ Swift Observatory, Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, and Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), first noticed that SGR 1935 + 2154 was becoming more active on 27 April, emitting more X-rays and gamma rays.
“After a few hours, there were suddenly a lot of bright explosions, and we saw what is typically known as a blast forest,” Jamie Kennea, a research professor at Pennsylvania State University who works at Swift, told Gizmodo. “They come so fast and so close together that they become almost indistinguishable from each other.”
Then came the flash: an explosion of radio waves hit the CHIME telescope in Canada. They were out of CHIME’s direct line of sight, but the telescope saw them anyway.
The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Experimentation Project of Canada (CHIME / FRB) is a radio telescope in southern British Columbia consisting of four half-cylinder antennas that scan the sky 1000 times per second for these bursts. You’ve seen many of them already, but the SGR 1935 + 2154 explosion was something special.
“He was so brilliant that we saw him out of the corner of his eye, so to speak,” postdoctoral fellow Shriharsh Tendulkar of McGill University told Gizmodo. They felt that they had to communicate the news of the detection quickly to the community, while the source was active.
Slack’s texts and messages came in torrents, other telescopes began to look at the source, and soon X-ray telescopes, gamma-ray telescopes, and other radio telescopes began to collect evidence of the signal. The researchers published their observations in the Astronomer’s Telegram.
Scientists are now working to understand whether or not they have actually seen a fast radio burst originating within our own galaxy. Tendulkar explained to Gizmodo that the explosion would have fallen within the possible range of fast radio burst energies, albeit at the lower end; it would have looked weak from outside the Milky Way. They should also better calculate the distance to SGR 1935 + 2154 and the actual signal strength.
“I think it pays to be cautious in stating that magnetars can certainly exhibit FRB-type luminosities, but this event is certainly encouraging,” Victoria Kaspi, a professor of physics at McGill University, told Kasiz. And if it was a fast radio burst, this event would still not confirm that magnetars represent all fast bursts of radio.
Magnetars has long been a leading candidate to explain these explosions. Astronomers think that the incredible magnetic fields of these objects can induce tremors of stars, events that occasionally repeat and release bursts of gamma rays and X-rays. But astronomers have not seen bursts of radio waves from these objects until now.
This observation further strengthens the case to continue searching for bright flashes of magnetars. Tendulkar told Gizmodo that it is just a matter of continuous observations to try and find another flash like this. He also noted that other radio telescopes should make sure not to shine bright flashes like this, as others could rule out especially bright radio signals as ground interference.
If you expected the aliens to be behind quick radio bursts, fear not! This observation has not yet ruled out aliens.
