As we already know, our galaxy and the universe are quite incredible, with many hidden secrets in every corner. Many weeks ago, the scientifical community were upset about a new discovery, and we should to be too: there was an strange light signal coming from a remote point of the universe. Such as Desmond when trying to scape from the Island of ‘Lost’. Do not worry, there aren’t aliens (at least for now) but, this is an incredible discovery that we are going to explain it in a while. Keep reading!
What was that light?
It is similar as a fast radio explosion, known as FRB 20190208A, which comes from a tiny, faint dwarf galaxy located 7 billion light-years away. The most incredible thing about this fact is that it is so far from us, so, our astronomers were bewildered with this.
These radio bursts, called Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), are intense bursts of energy that appear randomly in the sky and can last just milliseconds. What’s surprising about this finding is that most of these signals typically come from massive, star-forming galaxies, not from structures as small and faint as the host galaxy of FRB 20190208A.
What are FRBs and why are they so mysterious?
These fast radio bursts are an astrophysical phenomenon that has been the subject of study since their discovery in 2007. These powerful energy emissions can travel through space for billions of years before reaching Earth, and their origin is still not entirely clear, making them even more interesting to astronomers and scientists.
Are there explanations for this phenomenon?
As we mentioned, the true origin of these signals is still unknown, but several hypotheses are already being considered by the community.
- The first is that they are neutron stars with magnetic fields strong and large enough to generate these explosions.
- The second hypothesis is that it could be a stellar merger, which could trigger (through the neutrons themselves) these bursts of energy.
- The third hypothesis is that there are still missing data and unknown factors that make this still an unknown process.
Astronomer Danté Hewitt of the University of Amsterdam explained that most galaxies that host FRBs are massive, but this is one of the least dense we’ve observed, and that, of course, it was a big surprise for them.
Could it be an extraterrestrial signal?
Conspiracy and speculative theories are always our favourites, and, every time an FRB arises, theories of this type always arise, and the fact is that, although there is no evidence that can completely rule it out (since at the moment it is something we still do not know), the scientific community rules out that these signals come from an advanced civilization, so the most complete theory and the one that best fits our current realities is that these bursts have a natural astrophysical origin of which we still do not fully understand its mechanism (better than believing that on the other side of the galaxy there are entities causing bursts)
This discovery proves that space is still full of mysteries waiting to be unravelled. Just when we think we’ve mapped it all out, the universe reminds us that it always has more surprises in store. And isn’t it incredible? A tiny galaxy, millions of light-years away, shining so brightly that it reaches us across the vastness of space. If that isn’t proof that the cosmos still has endless wonders to reveal, what is