Astronomers investigating unusual signals have discovered a new spot in deep space that is much closer than previously thought.
Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are a strange series of bright flashes originating from a galaxy 12 million light-years away and comparable to those seen in the Crab Nebula, which is the remnant of a supernova explosion.
Scientists using radio telescopes signal discovered that the bursts occur among elderly stars suddenly. The intense flashes signal come from the nearby galaxy M-81, which is relatively close to Earth. Even though these dazzling flashes last only a thousandth of a second, it emits the same energy that the Sun does in a day.
Hundreds of flashes have been reported every day from all across the sky, yet they are all coming from a great distance away, from the deep space. Astronomers share observations in a series of two studies published in the journals Nature and Nature Astronomy that bring scientists closer to unraveling the enigma.
Where do fast radio bursts come from?
FRBs are intense bursts of radio emission with millisecond durations and enough energy to equal what the Sun produces in a day. Scientists for some time have recorded these signals. Researchers have had difficulty tracking down where these transient radio pulses are coming from, let alone discerning what kind of object is emitting them because they vanish in less than an eye.
The source is nearer to the Earth.
This time, scientists figured out what was causing the frequent bursts initially noticed in the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear, in January 2020. They integrated measurements from telescopes in the European VLBI Network (EVN) to analyze the source at the best resolution and sensitivity possible.
They determined the exact spot in the sky from where the enigmatic signals were coming from by combining data from 12 dish antennas distributed across half of the world in Sweden, Latvia, the Netherlands, Russia, Germany, Poland, Italy, and China. When they finished their calculations, they realized that the bursts were originating from an unexpected source: the fringes of a nearby spiral by galaxy Messier 81
“We wanted to figure out where the bursts came from. We knew we could locate the source’s location in the sky with high precision by combining many radio telescopes. This allows you to visualize what a quick radio burst’s immediate surroundings look like, “In a statement, Franz Kirsten remarked.
Origins of the universe
According to astronomers, many radio bursts have been discovered surrounded by young, massive stars considerably more significant than the Sun, where stellar explosions are expected and leave strongly magnetized debris. Scientists believe the bursts are caused by highly magnetized objects known as magnetars, also known as the universe’s most powerful magnets.
“We expect magnetars to be gleaming and young, with no ancient stars in their vicinity.” So, if what we’re looking at here is a magnetar, it couldn’t have come from a young star exploding. “There has to be another way,” the University of Amsterdam and ASTRON researcher Jason Hessels remarked.
Scientists had long suspected a magnetar developed when a white dwarf got huge enough to collapse under its weight, but they have yet to find one. “If one of the white dwarfs can absorb enough extra material from its companion, it can become a neutron star, even denser.” “It’s a rare occurrence, but it’s the easiest means of creating quick radio bursts in a cluster of ancient stars,” Mohit Bhardwaj of McGill University remarked.
The team is now planning to do more detailed observations to determine whether the source is a rare magnetar or something else, such as a rare pulsar or a black hole.
This article was shared with Prittle Prattle News as a Press Release by PRNewswire
