Scientists discover radio signals believed to be from merging galaxies.
SPACE — Astronomers discover eight billion year old radio signals. The ‘fast radio burst’ (FRB) signal, identified as FRB 20220610A, lasted just one millisecond.
However, the signal releases the amount of energy our sun emits in three decades.
FRB is a pulse of radio frequency electromagnetic radiation. The first FRB was discovered in 2007, since its first discovery, hundreds of cosmic flashes have been detected since then.
Many of these bursts only last a few microseconds before disappearing. This is what makes it difficult for scientists to determine where it comes from.
However, scientists were able to “precisely” determine where FRB 20220610A came from. Dr Stuart Ryder, an astronomer at Macquarie University in Australia, said scientists believe the explosion came from two or three galaxies merging and forming new stars.
A theory among scientists states that this burst was caused by a star exploding.
This FRB was initially detected using SKA Pathfinder Australia, a radio telescope in the state of Western Australia.
What makes this finding interesting is that scientists believe FRBs can be used to “weigh” the universe. The way to do this is by measuring countless intergalactic matter.
“If we count the amount of normal matter in the universe, the atoms that make up all of us, we find that more than half of the matter that should exist today has been lost,” said co-author Ryan Shannon, as reported by New York Times.
Scientists say FRBs could be a way to measure how many objects exist between galaxies. “We thought the missing material was hiding in intergalactic space, but it’s possible that the material is so hot and scattered that it’s impossible to see using normal techniques.”
2023-10-22 02:38:00
#Astronomers #Find #Billion #Year #Radio #Signal
