The vast and infinite expanse of space has always been
a source of mystery and fascination for us humans.
We have always wondered what secrets lie beyond the reaches of our own planet, and whether
we are truly alone in the universe.
And now, scientists have discovered something truly remarkable: a single, massive source
in space that is sending us thousands of messages.
But what could it be?
Is it a natural phenomenon, or could it be something more?
The sheer scale and consistency of the messages is unprecedented, and scientists are left
with more questions than answers.
Could this be a sign of intelligent life beyond our planet?
And if so, what are they trying to tell us?
These questions have left the scientific community buzzing with excitement, as they explore the
possibilities and try to unravel the mystery of these messages from space.
So, come and join us in today's video as we delve into the details of how scientists recently
identified an enormous object in space that continuously transmits thousands of messages.
Are you familiar with fast radio burst (FRB)?
While it may seem like an unremarkable phenomenon to some, it has captivated astronomers, scientists,
and space enthusiasts alike.
Part of its appeal lies in its enigmatic nature, as we still have much to learn about it.
Imagine the excitement when scientists began to pick up multiple FRB signals within a short
period of time, and the signals just kept coming.
Space is home to many mysteries, and FRB is one of the most puzzling.
It makes us wonder: who or what is trying to get our attention, and what could they
possibly want from us?
But what is FRB exactly?
FRBs are brief but intense bursts of radio emission that last for mere milliseconds.
They possess the characteristic dispersion sweep of radio pulsars.
The first instance of FRB was discovered by Dr. Duncan Lorimer in 2007, but upon scrutinizing
archive data, scientists found that FRBs were detected around six years earlier in a pulsar
survey of the Magellanic clouds.
It's no surprise that FRB is also referred to as the Lorimer Burst.
When telescopes capture an FRB, researchers pay close attention to a feature called dispersion,
which measures how spread out an FRB is by the time it reaches Earth.
In the vast expanse of space, the space between stars and galaxies is not empty but rather
filled with plasma, a soup of charged particles.
As light travels through space, it encounters various obstacles that can affect its journey.
One of these obstacles is plasma.
This plasma can cause light, including radio waves, to slow down.
Interestingly, lower frequency radio waves are more strongly affected and slowed down
more than higher frequency waves.
Fast radio bursts consist of a series of frequencies, with the higher frequencies arriving on Earth
before the lower frequencies, causing the dispersion effect.
Scientists use this dispersion to estimate the distance of the FRB source from Earth.
The more dispersion, the more plasma the signal has passed through, suggesting the source
is farther away.
The first FRB that was detected looked like giant pulses from radio pulsars and was traced
to the location near the Small Magellanic Cloud.
However, due to limited instrumentation, the flux of the signal could not be measured exactly.
Researchers believe that the first FRB could occur in several hundred bursts every day,
but with a small probability of detection.
After the first FRB was discovered, scientists thought it was a unique phenomenon because
it only occurred in three of the 13 beams of the Parkes multi-beam receiver.
However, a few years later, a student named Sarah Burke-Spolaor discovered another burst
that had almost the exact dispersion as the Lorimer burst, which led to a renewed interest
in the field.
In 2013, Thornton and Co. detected four more Lorimer bursts, which were officially named
fast radio bursts (FRBs).
These bursts had significantly higher dispersion measures than the original Lorimer burst and
were found through the High Time Resolution Universe surveys at the Parkes 64-meter radio
telescope.
The brightest burst showed scatter broadening with power law dependencies, similar to what
we would expect from extraterrestrial sources of radio emission.
In 2014, the first FRB discovered in another observatory was announced, but its source
remains controversial, and scientists are still trying to figure it out.
It's a baffling mystery that researchers are excited to solve, and with advancements in
technology and research methods, we might get closer to understanding these mysterious
bursts and their origins.
Now hold on to your hats, folks, because the plot is about to thicken!
In 2019, scientists dug deep into their data and made a discovery that would leave even
the most seasoned astronomer's jaw on the floor.
The analysis revealed that over the course of just 47 days, the FRB121102 source produced
a whopping 1652 flares, breaking the record for the most flares ever discovered from an
FRB!
This new information opened up an entirely new world of possibilities for researchers
to explore, as they scrambled to find any sort of regularity or periodicity in the bursts.
Unfortunately, their efforts were in vain, as they couldn't find any signs of a pattern.
This lack of periodicity was a real headscratcher for the scientists, as it made it incredibly
difficult to pinpoint the source of the bursts.
They were left wondering if these flares could be produced by more than one mechanism and
acknowledged that it might be quite some time before we truly understand the mysteries of
FRBs.
To make matters worse, most FRB sources flare just once and then disappear, making it even
more challenging for scientists to predict or trace them.
A select few of the FRBs have been known to give off signals repeatedly, and one of the
most active ones is FRB121102.
This oddball has allowed scientists to track it all the way to a dwarf galaxy 3 billion
light-years away, but it's not your typical FRB.
It's super busy and follows a unique pattern: it goes through 90 days of activity and then
67 days of silence.
The amount of activity from FRB121102 has given astronomers an opportunity to observe
it when it's emitting, and one of the tools that has helped with this is the 500-meter
aperture spherical radio telescope (or FAST for short).
Even during the telescope's testing phase, it picked up FRBs.
In just two months, FAST collected a massive 59 and a half hours of data in a 47-day period.
The peak rate was 122 bursts in just one hour, which is the highest level of activity ever
seen in an FRB source.
Thanks to this massive data haul, the researchers were able to analyze the source's activity
statistically.
They separated the bursts into two categories: those with higher energy and those with lower
energy, which had distinct differences in properties.
The weaker bursts were shown to be more unpredictable in nature.
Despite the lack of regularity in most FRBs, scientists are still determined to track them
down.
Through their investigations, they have discovered that these bursts originate from galaxies
that are millions, or even billions of light years away, yet produce enough energy in a
mere fraction of a second to power hundreds of millions of suns.
Recently, the scientists have stumbled upon another intriguing FRB: FRB190520, detected
by the FAST telescope in China.
This FRB stands out because it repeats itself more frequently than others, releasing 75
bursts in just six months.
Curious to learn more, the team used the powerful Very Large Array radio telescope located in
New Mexico to focus on the FRB.
Finally, they were able to locate the source of this mysterious signal, coming from a dwarf
galaxy located about 3 billion light years away from us.
The research team made a surprising discovery when they found a faint radio signal originating
from the same spot as FRB190520.
This persistent signal is a rare find, with only one other FRB source known to have it.
Using the location of the dwarf galaxy that FRB190520 came from, the researchers were
able to determine the distance from Earth.
However, their results revealed an odd discrepancy: the estimated distance based on the FRB's
dispersion was 30 billion light years, which is ten times greater than the actual distance
of 3 billion light years.
While this is both remarkable and perplexing, it's worth noting that only 19 of the over
800 FRBs discovered have been traced back to their origins, allowing for accurate distance
estimates.
For the rest of the sources, astronomers must rely on dispersion to gauge their distance
from Earth.
The scientific community has been captivated by this new FRB, which poses even more questions
than answers.
Unlike the 19 other FRBs whose distances were estimated with similar accuracy to their actual
locations, the dispersion method used on this one was way off the mark.
Scientists are perplexed and can't help but wonder: Are persistent radio signals becoming
more frequent, and what generates them?
Is the same mechanism that causes FRBs also responsible for the persistent radio signal?
Furthermore, the team was surprised by the unusually high dispersion rate of FRB190520.
Was it caused by something nearby, or is it related to the FRB itself?
The team is determined to uncover the secrets of this strange object using multiple telescopes
around the world.
With more discoveries to come, we might eventually unravel the mysteries surrounding FRBs, paving
the way for a better understanding of these peculiar objects in our galaxy.
In conclusion, fast radio bursts are a fascinating and mysterious cosmic phenomenon that has
captured the attention of astronomers and the general public alike.
Despite significant progress made in recent years, including the detection of more than
800 FRBs and the tracing of some to their sources, there is still much that we do not
know about these bursts of radio energy.
From the discovery of persistent radio signals to the surprising dispersion estimates, the
more we learn about FRBs, the more questions we have.
However, with the use of advanced technology and the collaboration of scientists around
the world, we can hope to uncover more about these strange objects and gain a deeper understanding
of our universe.
Now let’s hear what you think about these strange FRBs in the comments section below.