It’s been detecting what are known as ‘FRBs’ (Fast Radio Bursts) which
are small pulses of radio waves originating out in the cosmos. The
source of the signals is unknown but they are believed to be coming from
a region of space around three billion light years from Earth. The
500-meter fixed diameter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope, nicknamed
Tianyan, is located Guizhou, southwest China. Officials say it’s picked
up over 100 FRBs since late August, all coming from this same source –
designated FRB121102. Experts at the Chinese Academy of Sciences are
currently analysing and cross-checking these signals to try and
understand more about where they come from. It’s currently believed that
FSBs are created by certain processes out in deep space, rather than
from any kind of alien technology.To get more
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Most are ‘one-offs” but a small amount are ‘repeaters’ which recur
in the same place. One prevailing theory is the radio bursts are a side
effect of neutron stars colliding with black holes. Another suggests
they are produced by so-called ‘magnetars’ – neutron stars with
incredibly powerful magnetic fields. But that was called into question
back in July when a new burst was picked up and attributed to a spiral
galaxy 7.9 billion light years away that resembles our own Milky Way. A
team of stargazers used the Australian Square Kilometer Array to
pinpoint the origins of a burst called FRB 190523. ‘This finding tells
us that every galaxy, even a run-of-the-mill galaxy like our Milky Way,
can generate an FRB,’ said Vikram Ravi, assistant professor of astronomy
at Caltech. ‘Finding the locations of the one-off FRBs is challenging
because it requires a radio telescope that can both discover these
extremely short events and locate them with the resolving power of a
mile-wide radio dish.’ ‘The theory that FRBs come from magnetars was
developed in part because the earlier FRB 121102 came from an active
star-forming environment, where young magnetars can be formed in the
supernovae of massive stars,’ added Ravi. ‘But the host galaxy of FRB
190523 is more mellow in comparison.’
If ever there was going to be a telescope that uncovered the mystery
of FRBs it would be China’s new radio telescope – it’s the largest and
most sensitive radio observatory ever constructed. The telescope’s
considerable observational power will be used by astronomers from
various nations to study such phenomena as exoplanets, gravitational
waves and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. However, the addition of a
highly-sensitive secondary system to the giant telescope has enabled it
to detect fast radio bursts with high efficiency and in real time at the
same time as undertaking over observation tasks. It is expected that
Tianyan will allow researchers to pinpoint the origins of these
mysterious pulses with significantly greater accuracy.
The Wall