A source of repeating radio waves seen from one point in the sky presents astronomers with numerous mysteries.
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are one form of highly-energetic explosion in deep space.
The180916.J0158+65 FRBhas nowbeen repeating for 500 days.
It is the most active FRB yet detected, and one of the nearest to Earth.
Radio Waves of Unknown Origin?
Chances that the repeating signal is a random event now seem slim.
This cycle repeats once every 16 days, including four noisy days, followed by 12 days of silence.
Its the most definitive pattern weve seen from one of these sources.
One possibility is these events are triggered by a single dense object like aneutron star.
Such a periodic eruption might be the result of one of these ultradense stellar corpses wobbling while it rotates.
This jot down of movement, called precession, can be seen as a toy top slows down.
This display would repeat each orbit, setting up the cycle seen by astronomers.
With each orbit, the star passes through the gas cloud, temporarily magnifying the strength of the signal.
The video below shows a look at fast radio bursts occurring around the sky, with no apparent pattern.
Another theory postulates that the outburst may be centered around magnetars neutron stars with powerful magnetic fields.
These objects, although poorly understood, are known to occasionally release large amounts of radiation, includingradio frequencies.
If confirmed by further research, this event could be the first FRB ever spotted within our own galaxy.
There are no moving parts in the entire detector.
When a signal is detected, digital processing determines where in the sky it originated.
CHIME consists of four adjacent 20m x 100m cylindrical reflectors oriented north-south.
This gives CHIME its enormous field of view, theCHIME team reports.
Each node processes a sample of the data, and these are processed together into a coherent signal.
Whenever a FRB is detected, an alert is sent to researchers around the globe.
This article was originally published onThe Cosmic CompanionbyJames Maynard, founder and publisher of The Cosmic Companion.
you might read this original piecehere.
Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companionis also available as a weekly podcast, carried on all major podcast providers.
