Alleged 'Alien' Signals Pinpointed From Dwarf Galaxy 3 Billion Lightyears Away

A mysterious series of cosmic radio waves have had astronomers puzzled since they were first [...]

A mysterious series of cosmic radio waves have had astronomers puzzled since they were first detected ten years ago and science might have finally found a source of the signal.

The FRBs (Fast Radio Bursts) were originally detected in 2007 and was so temporary and seemingly randomly, scientists devoted more time to determining which telescope was malfunctioning to cause the detection. 

A group of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and Cornell University began investigating the source of the bursts when they were once again detected in 2012, causing the scientists to more thoroughly monitor the part of the sky from which the FRBs seemed to originate.

UP NEXT: Five Movies That Could Miss The Mark In 2017

Shami Chatterjee from Cornell said, "We now know that this particular burst comes from a dwarf galaxy more than three billion light-years from Earth," adding, "That simple fact is a huge advance in our understanding of these events."

Casey Law, from the University of California, reported, "For a long time, we came up empty, then got a string of bursts that gave us exactly what we needed."

Last year, nine burst were detected in the course of a month, allowing researchers to pinpoint the source's location. The origin of the bursts are from so far away, it has been determined they can't have originated in our own galaxy.

There are multiple hypotheses of what could have caused the bursts, but there's no definitive answer yet. 

According to Law, "It could be created by a superluminous supernova or a long gamma ray burst, and then later on, as it evolves and its rotation slows down a bit, it produces these fast radio bursts as well as continuous radio emission powered by that spindown."

Could these radio waves be created by extra-terrestrials? Are they merely broadcasting their favorite music in our general direction? Those questions don't yet have answers, but we have begun to understand the FRBs and these questions will be investigated further.

MORE NEWS: Father-In-Law Reveals Eerie Details After Son-In-Law Allegedly Kills His Daughter / Margot Robbie Caught Ice Skating To Prepare For Tonya Harding Role / Entire Family Killed In Small Plane Crash En Route To Telluride

[H/T Daily Mail]

0comments