Astronomers have detected an extremely strange radio signal from a distant galaxy that pulsateswith rhythm,
FRBs are bursts of radio signals from space.which are very fast and last only milliseconds. Some of these are one-offs, while others are known to recur, either randomly or in a predictable pattern.
A team of astronomers using the CHIME radio telescopediscovered an FRB unlike any other. If all other known FRBs last a few fractions of a second, then this new signal, known as FRB 20191221A, lasted a few seconds. Stranger still, the radio waves in the signal were repeated every 0.2 seconds, which has never been seen in any other FRB.
"This was unusual," said Daniele Michilli, lead author of the study."Not only was it very long, but it also had periodic peaks that were remarkably precise, radiating every fraction of a second – boom, boom, boom – like a heartbeat.This is the first time that the signal itself is periodic."
Analysis of the structure of the pulse suggests that it came either froma pulsar – a type of neutron star that emits beams of radio waves from its poles – or fromMagnetar is a neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field.
However, FRB 20191221A was over a million timesbrighter than any radiation ever seen from a pulsar or magnetar in our own galaxy. The researchers speculate that this signal could have come from a pulsar or magnetar, which is usually much dimmer, but it just so happens to have fired a flare in our direction.