WASHINGTON: Astronomers picked mysterious radio signals and they believed that the signal came from an alien civilization. Scientists have for the first time observed millisecond long, bright flashes of radio waves which emit the same amount of energy as the sun does in an entire day emanating from unknown sources in the universe.
The fast radio bursts may alternatively have come from a black hole, or a neutron star. The first such burst was discovered in 2007 by sifting through old data, but this is the first time star-gazers have observed the mysterious phenomenon happening live. Carnegie Observatories’ acting director John Mulchaey said: “These events are one of the biggest mysteries in the universe. “Until now, astronomers were not able to catch one of these events in the act.”
Scientists have spent years looking for the waves using 12 telescopes in California, the Canary Islands, Australia, Chile, Hawaii, India and Germany. Their data indicates that the bursts originated from outside of our Milky Way galaxy up to 5.5 billion light-years away. PhD student Emily Petroff, from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, said: “These bursts were generally discovered weeks or months or even more than a decade after they happened.
Scientists have spent years looking for the waves using 12 telescopes in California, the Canary Islands, Australia, Chile, Hawaii, India and Germany. Their data indicates that the bursts originated from outside of our Milky Way galaxy up to 5.5 billion light-years away. PhD student Emily Petroff, from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, said: “These bursts were generally discovered weeks or months or even more than a decade after they happened.
