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Is something trying to communicate with us? Or maybe this is a warning of a pending alien invasion?
The truth is out there somewhere, but for now, scientists are baffled by an object transmitting signals that hit Earth every 16 times. The object also happens to be 500 million light-years away.
Scientists are at a loss to explain what is causing these transmissions, but it is being called the “first reliable pattern of fast radio bursts in deep space.” The bursts repeat their activity every 16 days, which researchers think means that something is controlling them.
Photo Credit: Vanderburg Air Force Base
Astrophysicists found the pattern from a radio telescope in British Columbia, Canada. One or two radio bursts will blast out each hour for four days before it goes silent for 12 days…and then the pattern repeats itself.The radio bursts were traced to a galaxy 500 million light-years away.
Astrophysicist Duncan Lorimer of West Virginia University said, “This is very significant. It’s potentially going to take us in an interesting direction to get to the bottom of these repeaters.”
Because of the consistent pattern of the bursts, some researchers theorize that the transmissions could be coming from a neutron star and an early OB-type star binary system. Others suggest the orbital motion of a star or another object in the outskirts of the galaxy.
Figuring out more information about these fast radio bursts can also help astronomers learn more about how matter is distributed across the universe.
Here’s a video about these mysterious bursts from outer space.
What do you think about this?
Scary? Weird? Just the universe saying hello?
Let us know in the comments, all you armchair scientists out there!
