Astronomers have discovered a weird periodic fast radio burst coming from billions of light-years away.
There are all sorts of strange signals which we detect coming from space, and one set of signals which are particularly intriguing is called fast radio bursts. These incredibly bright pulses of radio energy are very brief, at just a few milliseconds in length, but they travel enormous distances between galaxies. Now, astronomers have discovered one such burst which not only has a surprisingly regular pattern but also lasts a much longer time.
“Not only was it very long, lasting about three seconds, but there were periodic peaks that were remarkably precise, emitting every fraction of a second — boom, boom, boom — like a heartbeat,” said Daniele Michilli of McGill University and MIT, leader of the research, in a statement. “This is the first time the signal itself is periodic.”
“There are not many things in the universe that emit strictly periodic signals,” said a co-author of the paper, Aaron Pearlman of McGill University. “Examples that we know of in our own galaxy are radio pulsars and magnetars, which rotate and produce a beamed emission similar to a lighthouse. And we think this new signal could be a magnetar or pulsar on steroids.”
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