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Astronomers just observe the fastest known radio pulses from outside our galaxy hiding in 30 hour ' worth of radio set telescope data . The findings , published Oct. 19 in the journalNature Astronomy , could help researchers uncover where these mysterious blips come from .
quick wireless outburst ( FRBs ) are extremely short , high - energy pulses of electromagnetic irradiation that usually originate outside our galaxy . Most last for between one - thousandth of a second and three second , during which they breathe as much vigor asthe sunthrows out in a day .
Artist’s impression (landscape orientation) of the discovery of microsecond bursts. The foreground shows the Green Bank Telescope (United States) with which the research was done. Incoming radio waves are shown as white, red, and orange streaks that follow each other in rapid succession. The long red streaks are the previously known millisecond flashes.
The first FRB was detected in 2007 , and since then , C more have been get word . Astronomers are n’t entirely sure what causes FRBs . There ’s evidence that at least some of the radio pulsescome from magnetars , a type of denseneutron starwith an passing powerful magnetised arena . Other researchers have proposed that FRBs might be the result ofmerging neutron stars , industrious supernovas , Vasco da Gamma - ray burstsor potentially eventechnosignaturesfrom alien refinement .
But astronomer had long suspected that there might be even shorter , quick FRBs that were going undetected . " During our group meetings , we often talked about it , " Mark Snelders , an uranologist at the University of Amsterdam and first source of the subject , say in astatement . " By concurrence , I found out that there was a public dataset that we could use for this . "
By analyzing 30 minutes of radio datum from the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia , Snelders and his co - authors get a line eight ultrafast FRBs originating from a root 3 billion lite - age away . Each gumptious impulse lasted just 10 millionths of a second or less — the fastest burst ever detected by far .
Artist’s impression (portrait orientation) of the discovery of microsecond bursts. The foreground shows the Green Bank Telescope (United States) with which the research was done. Incoming radio waves are shown as white, red, and orange streaks that follow each other in rapid succession. The long red streaks are the previously known millisecond flashes.
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Now that scientists have cogent evidence that these ultrafast FRBs exist , they can search for more . alas , these pip may prove difficult to receive with this method acting . To spot the eight pulses , the investigator had to break down each mo of the scope ’s tuner - establish images into half a million frames . Many other tuner telescopes ' data files simply are n’t detailed enough to slice into such tiny pieces .
Still , know where and how to find ultrafast FRBs is a big step toward unraveling the puzzle of how they came to be .
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