Mysterious radio burst from outer space is unusually close – and even more intriguing

Bright, very brief flashes of radio waves from the vicinity of a galaxy not far from ours raise further questions about one of astronomer’s greatest mysteries. The repetitive energy bursts appear to originate from a globular cluster, also known as a globular cluster, an ancient group of stars. This is the last place astronomers would wait for them.

Of extremely bright and short radio wave flashes, called FRB (fast radio bursts) by scientists, have puzzled scientists since they wet were first seen in 2007. Based on observations so far, the researchers speculated that the flashes came from young, ephemeral objects called “magnetars.”

But according to one elements on arXiv, an online pre-publication service for scientific articles, an FRB observed last year seemed to come from a globular cluster near the spiral galaxy M81, about 11.7 million light years from us of. Finding this flash in an ancient star cluster is like finding a smartphone among the stones of Stonehenge – it’s illogical.

“This is definitely not a place where you would expect radio bursts,” the astronomer wrote. Bryan gaensler from the University of Toronto, one of the co-authors of the article, on Twitter. “What is happening here?”

Scientists are doing their best to find an explanation for this cosmic anachronism. They are also increasingly convinced that, as with many other cosmic phenomena, rapid radio bursts can originate in different ways.

“FRBs could – perhaps – be a generic phenomenon that could have different sources,” suggests astronomer Shami Chatterjee from Cornell University. He is investigating the flashes but was not part of the team that wrote the article.

“What is happening here?”

Scientists observed the flash (named FRB 2020120E) in January 2020 using the telescope of the Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experience in Canada (CARILLON). He has now proven himself as a tireless FRB detective. When CHIME in 2017 began, fewer than thirty rapid radio bursts were known to scientists. Thanks to the telescope, that number has now exceeded a thousand.

Like over twenty other well-known flashes, FRB 2020120E is a so-called repeater – a spatial phenomenon which several radio flashes detectable product, rather than bursting once and then disappearing. the the flashes are not so bright like others who come from billions of light years, from a place deep in the universe. Still, the flashes allowed scientists to pinpoint the place in the sky where the FRBs took place.

Using this knowledge, the team was able to search for a possible source. Measurements from the flashes showed that FRB 20200120E was quite close to us, so astronomers knew they had to look for something around us, perhaps even in the gaseous and tenuous space of our Milky Way. The researchers then used an array of radio telescopes, the European Very Long Basis Interferometry Network to know the precise location of the flashes.

“We have shown that FRB 2020120E belongs to a globular cluster of the galaxy M81, which means that this FRB is 40 times closer than any other FRB outside our galaxy,” write the authors in the new article.

“And it’s going to be very, very interesting figuring out how to interpret that,” Chatterjee said. “It is very difficult to integrate into current models.”

globular clusters are among the oldest objects in the observable universe. They are billions of years old, at least as old as the galaxies they revolve around, and possibly many more. Until now, scientists strongly suspected that rapid radio bursts were caused by some of the youngest compact objects ever seen: magnetars. These are extremely magnetic “star bodies” that form when young and large stars explode and die. Once a magnetar has formed, it takes tens of thousands of years for the magnetic field of this ultra-magnetic star to decay, leaving a much more common neutron star.

But to the knowledge of astronomers, the scintillating and very compact globular clusters do not contain the kind of dashing stars that collapse into a magnetar.

But to the knowledge of astronomers, the scintillating and very compact globular clusters do not contain the kind of dashing stars that collapse into a magnetar.