(TNW) – A source of repeating radio waves seen from one point in the sky presents astronomers with numerous mysteries. The source of this signal, where radiation builds and ebbs over a period of 16 days, remains a question. The longevity of these cycles — now seen continuing for over 500 days — could either present another mystery or perhaps a clue to what is going on at the center of these displays.
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are one form of a highly-energetic explosion in deep space. Thought to be caused by small, massive objects, although the exact nature of these objects is still in question. The energy released by eruptions of these objects can outshine the entire galaxies in which they reside, but these events fade in a small fraction of a second.
The 180916.J0158+65 FRB has now been repeating for 500 days. The apparent source for this display is a region of active star formation just outside a massive spiral galaxy, 500 million light-years from Earth (well outside our Milky Way galaxy). It is the most active FRB yet detected, and one of the nearest to Earth.
A new study examining this signal found it is likely either a periodic event (such as a rotating object) or the radio waves may be amplified on a regular repeating pattern. Chances that a repeating signal is a random event now seem slim. “In 38 bursts recorded from 16 September 2018 to 4 February 2020 UTC, we find that all bursts arrive in a five-day phase window, and 50 percent of the bursts arrive in a 0.6-day [14 hour 24 minute] phase window,” researchers report in an article published in the journal Nature. READ MORE
