In a quest to unravel the enigma of the signaling waves from the distant galaxy, which was first discovered in 2019, scientists have just received another strange signal from a galaxy that is 3 billion light-years away from us. These types of signals are called FRBs (Fast Radio Bursts), have a duration of only a few milliseconds, and are extremely bright. The pattern was identified just once before, which is still a mystery, and now another signal has made the research more interesting.
This type of signal emits an intense energy equivalent to 500 million suns together, but they have such a short time duration, which makes it a complex phenomenon for scientists to identify their source. The analysis of the research conducted suggested that there is a possibility of more than one source through which these fast bursts are emitted.
According to scientists, most of the FRBs emerge from other galaxies. As far as the Milky Way galaxy is concerned, scientists have identified its source but only one FRB. They have traced it to a variant of a dead star known as“magnetar”. This implies that magnetar eruptions might be an underlying reason for such FRBs. But still, there is a long way to go as a lot of them are unknown as of yet.
The signal, which was discovered in 2019, was tagged as “FRB 190520B” and was first recorded by the “Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST)” in China. Sources revealed that when observed again, the signals were repeating, and as per the “National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array,” a diminutive old galaxy which is approximately 4 billion light-years away from us might be the source.
The astronomer Casey Law, on assessing the complexity of the situation, stated, “Now we have two like this, and that brings up some important questions.” According to the study, there might be an existing probability that the signals are repeating at very low energies, which makes it difficult for us to perceive. Also, if the bursts are being emitted from two different mechanisms, then they can be emanated from different objects or the same object, depending upon which stage of evolution they are in.
The dispersion measure, which is said to be another characteristic of such FRBs, tells the expansion of how long light is being dissipated between Earth and the source. These results demonstrate that the source of FRB 190520B is 8 to 9.5 billion years away, but the independent measurements show otherwise. Moreover, for FRB 121102, which is emitted from the radio source, the dispersion measure suggests that the source occupies a complex lava environment.
The astrophysicist Kshitij Aggarwal from West Virginia University said, “This means that there is a lot of material near the FRB that would confuse any attempt to use it to measure the gas between galaxies. If that’s the case with others, then we can’t count on using FRBs as cosmic yardsticks.”