A MYSTERY RADIO SIGNAL FROM SPACE IS REPEATING ITSELF EVERY 16 DAYS
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Researchers have discovered a repeating radio signal originating from a single source 500 million light-years from Earth.
Researchers from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment/Fast Radio Burst Project collaboration detected a pattern of fast radio bursts occurring every 16.35 days between Sept. 16, 2018, and Oct. 30, 2019.
Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are millisecond-long bursts of radio waves that come from space. Previously, researchers have observed these bursts repeating, but sporadically or in a cluster.
This FRB, which was tracked back to a massive spiral galaxy a half-billion light-years away, releases a burst or two each hour for four days before going silent for 12 days and starting the pattern over again.However, the findings, which are part of a paper, have only been moderated and not yet fully peer reviewed.
Previous research has repeatedly traced FRBs to vastly different sources, leading to more questions than answers regarding the origins of these signals.
“The discovery of a 16.35-day periodicity in a repeating FRB source is an important clue to the nature of this object,” the researchers wrote.
Further study is now needed to determine if there are patterns within other already discovered FRBs in order to see if the repetition is the exception or the rule, the researchers said.
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