Astronomers have localized the source of the mysterious “radio alien” – RIA Novosti

09:1004.01.2017

(updated: 09:44 04.01.2017)

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MOSCOW, 4 Jan – RIA Novosti. Unusual repetitive radiospace in the constellation Auriga, which some scientists believe the signals of alien origin, do not occur in the milky Way and the galaxy a few hundred million light-years from Earth, according to a paper published in the journal Nature.

“not Even having a clue what they all are, open source is a real leap forward in unravelling the nature and origin FRB-flares. Hunting for such radio bursts continues,” — commented on the opening of the astronomer Heino falcke (Heino Falcke) of the University of Nijmegen (Netherlands).

Signals from the void

for the First time about the existence of a mysterious flares of radio emission (fast radio burst FRB) astronomers began in 2007, when they were accidentally discovered during observations of radio pulsars using the Parkes telescope (Australia).

In subsequent years, scientists were able to find traces of nine of these bursts, the comparison of which showed that they might have an artificial origin, and even potentially be signals of extraterrestrial civilizations due to the unexplained periodicity in their structure.

this Spring, scientists have found that the source of one of such FRB-flares were an elliptical galaxy located 6 billion light years from the milky Way that caused them to conclude that such outbursts are born during the merging of neutron stars or other compact objects, turning into a black hole. In the future, astrophysicists have discovered that the FRB-flash again, thus putting these theories into question.

Paul Scholz (Paul Scholz) from McGill University (Canada) and his colleagues who discovered these repetitive “signals aliens” were able to localize the source, watching the new FRB-flashes at the point where the Earth came a burst FRB 121102, the outdoor Observatory at Parkes in 2012.

As Scholz explains, most of the FRB bursts was revealed by telescopes that “look” on a very wide part of the night sky, so their exact position is extremely difficult to determine even in the presence of a recurring signal.

For this reason, Scholz and his colleagues watched FRB 121102 with a powerful 300-meter Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico and the VLA interferometer to determine the source position with an accuracy of a tenth of a second of arc.

lost in space

astronomers Have had only 83 hours of observations with the VLA, but they broke they are very sly way for six months, watching the place where was supposedly FRB 121102. They were thus able to record just nine bursts emanating from the same point and associated with FRB 121102.

it Turned out that this signal comes from the constellation of Auriga, from the point, near which are several large galaxies and star clusters in our Galaxy. But the source of the outbreak is in another object in the dim galaxy, invisible to us in optical range, remote from Earth for at least 140 million light years. As shown by observations with the aid of microwave telescopes, stars in her almost not formed, and the galaxy itself has a very small size.

Further observations of this galaxy showed that it constantly emits radio frequency energy, periodically flaring up and causing a flash similar to the FRB 121102. Their source is a compact object at the center of this galaxy, whose emission characteristics virtually eliminate the possibility that it was generated by some objects within the milky Way.

the Nature of this radiation remains unclear – point character of the source seems to indicate that such outbreaks give rise to black holes, but the lack of x-ray radiation at the point of FRB 121102 speaks against this idea. Similarly, FRB-flash can’t catch the remnants of a supernova due to differences in their spectra.

As suggested by the astronomers, “radio alien” can result from the interaction of a neutron star and a supermassive black hole, around which it rotates. On the other hand, the absence of periodicity in FRB-outbreak casts doubt on this idea. Therefore, as scientists hope that further observations of the nucleus of galaxy and the source of FRB 121102, as well as other outbreaks of this type will help to understand how they are born and who or what is sending them to the Ground.