maybe.
Repeating mysterious radio bursts from deep space surprise scientists
First repeating fast radio bursts detected by McGill researcher — raising new questions about origin
By Emily Chung, CBC News Posted: Mar 02, 2016 1:26 PM ET Last Updated: Mar 02, 2016 4:50 PM ET
The crab nebula, formed during a supernova in AD 1054, contains a pulsar, a neutron star that emits regular pulses of radio waves. Some of them are giant pulses far brighter than average. Scientists suspect the repeating fast radio bursts they discovered may be caused by a similar pulsar far outside our galaxy. (J. Hester, A. Loll/ASU/NASA/ESA)
Mysterious radio blips from deep space, far beyond our galaxy, have puzzled scientists since the first one was discovered in 2001.
Now, a Canadian scientist and his international collaborators have detected repeat performances of a "fast radio burst" for the first time. That raises new questions and new possibilities about what might be causing them.
Fast radio bursts or FRBs — single bursts of radio waves from outside our galaxy that last just one to 10 thousandths of a second — were first detected just 15 years ago by scientists using a radio telescope in Australia.
Since then, just 17 have been detected around the world, and all of them seemed to be one-offs, up until now.
Astrophysicists had suggested fast radio bursts might be caused by a catastrophic event that destroys the source, which might be an object like a neutron star, said Paul Scholz, a Ph.D. student at McGill University in Montreal who studies FRBs. Neutron stars are "dead" or "zombie" stars that form when a massive star runs out of fuel and explodes in a supernova, but hasn't collapsed to the point of becoming a black hole.
More....
Repeating mysterious radio bursts from deep space surprise scientists - Technology & Science - CBC News
Repeating mysterious radio bursts from deep space surprise scientists
First repeating fast radio bursts detected by McGill researcher — raising new questions about origin
By Emily Chung, CBC News Posted: Mar 02, 2016 1:26 PM ET Last Updated: Mar 02, 2016 4:50 PM ET
The crab nebula, formed during a supernova in AD 1054, contains a pulsar, a neutron star that emits regular pulses of radio waves. Some of them are giant pulses far brighter than average. Scientists suspect the repeating fast radio bursts they discovered may be caused by a similar pulsar far outside our galaxy. (J. Hester, A. Loll/ASU/NASA/ESA)
Mysterious radio blips from deep space, far beyond our galaxy, have puzzled scientists since the first one was discovered in 2001.
Now, a Canadian scientist and his international collaborators have detected repeat performances of a "fast radio burst" for the first time. That raises new questions and new possibilities about what might be causing them.
Fast radio bursts or FRBs — single bursts of radio waves from outside our galaxy that last just one to 10 thousandths of a second — were first detected just 15 years ago by scientists using a radio telescope in Australia.
- Neutron star researcher at McGill wins $1M Herzberg medal
- China will relocate 9,000 people to build world's biggest radio telescope
Since then, just 17 have been detected around the world, and all of them seemed to be one-offs, up until now.
Astrophysicists had suggested fast radio bursts might be caused by a catastrophic event that destroys the source, which might be an object like a neutron star, said Paul Scholz, a Ph.D. student at McGill University in Montreal who studies FRBs. Neutron stars are "dead" or "zombie" stars that form when a massive star runs out of fuel and explodes in a supernova, but hasn't collapsed to the point of becoming a black hole.
More....
Repeating mysterious radio bursts from deep space surprise scientists - Technology & Science - CBC News
