Astronomers have spotted a strange radio signal that emits periodically ‘like a heartbeat’. This mysterious cosmic signal is said to be coming from the depths of space.
The intensity of the radio bursts has shocked scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), U.S. They have classified this signal as a fast radio burst (FRB), which are intense bursts of radio waves of unknown origin.
According to studies, this is the longest-lasting FRB recorded till date, with the clearest periodic pattern.
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The signal of the FRB 20191221A is known to persist around 1,000 times more than the typical FRB, which otherwise last for a few milliseconds at most.
The FRB 20191221A goes on for about three seconds and the radio waves repeat every 0.2 seconds, making for a ‘clear periodic pattern’.
What may be the cause of these mysterious radio signals?
Most mysterious radio signals detected in space are known to hint at the existence of aliens yet this one is likely to come from a rare kind of star.
According to the astronomers, the radio signals may be coming from a kind of neuron star. These are extremely dense, collapsed cores of giant stars left out from supernovas.
As per scientists, who published their work in the journal Nature, these radio signals may be caused by a magnetar star or a radio pulsar.
Interestingly, the first FRB was detected in 2007. Many FRBs discovered since then were one-offs, which lasted only for a few milliseconds before disappearing.
The FRB 20191221A was first discovered when a post-doc in MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research – Danielle Michilli noticed the unusual data being picked up by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) in 2019.
As per astronomers, there were many similarities between the FRB 20191221A’s radio bursts and those already spotted in the Milky Way galaxy.
