Space Wave Scientists | Reportage

The magnet of the Milky Way neutron star constellation, called SGR 1935 + 2154, may have helped solve the mystery of fast-moving deep-space radio signals that have puzzled astronomers for years.

The magnet of the Milky Way neutron star constellation, called SGR 1935 + 2154, may have helped solve the mystery of fast-moving deep-space radios that have puzzled astronomers for years.

Observatories around the world recorded an explosion of incredibly clear milliseconds of radio waves on April 28, followed by clear X-ray emissions, according to the Australian science journal “Science alert.”

Astronomers are still analyzing the data, but most of them agree that this event could finally detect the source of fast radio wave (FRB) that has been sought for years.

Fast radio waves are one of the most fascinating mysteries in the universe.

These extremely powerful deep space radio signals, galaxies a million light-years away, release more energy than 500 million suns.

However, they last less than the blink of an eye and most are not repeated, making them very difficult to study.

Possible explanations ranged from supernovae to aliens, but one of the most likely possibilities is that radio waves are produced by magnets, strange neutron stars, an extremely dense nucleus formed by the contraction of a star into a supernova.

Magnets have magnetic fields approximately 1,000 times more powerful than ordinary neutron stars, and why this is so has not yet been explained.

The SGR 1935 + 2154 magnet was discovered on April 27 and initially appeared relatively normal, similar to other magnets.

However, the next day, the Canadian CHIME telescope made an unprecedented discovery, a signal so powerful that the system was unable to quantify it.

“Something like this has never been seen before,” Srinivas Kulkarni of the California University of Technology told Science alert.

What distinguishes this space event from the others previously recorded are X-rays.

“The SGR 1935 + 2154 radiograph was not particularly strong or unusual, but it is a very intriguing result and supports the connection between fast magnetic waves and magnets,” says Sandro Meregeti of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics.

Scientists have yet to analyze the spectrum of this radiation emission and determine if it has any similarity to the spectrum of fast extralactic radio waves.

Regardless of what the newly discovered SGR 1935 + 2154 magnet says, science is still far from completely solving the complicated puzzle that these incredible signals represent.