Posted in: 09/06/2022 – 11:10
Astronomers have detected a “fast, mysterious and repetitive radio flux”, emitted from a small galaxy located 3 billion light-years away.
New research, published on Wednesday, June 8, 2022, indicated that this radio signal is unique compared to other discoveries of radio waves in recent years.
Fast radio waves are bursts of radio waves with a length of milliseconds in space. Astronomers were able to track some of the radio signals and know their original galaxies, but they have not yet determined the true cause of these flashes.
Scientists discovered this flash, called FRB 190520, on May 20, 2019. Upon careful monitoring, a strange thing turned out, as the body was emitting repeated bursts of radio waves.
In 2020, the team used the group of telescopes in New Mexico to determine the origin of the explosion before focusing on it using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. Subaru’s observations showed that the explosion was coming from the fringes of a distant dwarf galaxy.
The observation also revealed that the celestial body constantly emits weak radio waves between bursts of strong fluxes. This is very similar to the well-known repeating fast radio burst: FRB 121102, discovered in 2016.
“Now we actually need to explain this double puzzle and why strong and weak fluxes are found consistently together sometimes,” said one of the study participants.
“Is this common with strong streams when they are in their prime?” Or maybe the object making the outbursts is a supermassive black hole chaotically devouring a nearby star? There are several theories, and this phenomenon must continue to be studied to gain a better understanding.”