(NLDO) - From a world 2 billion light years away from Earth, an "absurd" radio signal reached the CHIME telescope system in British Columbia, Canada.
According to Sci-News, the strange radio signal FRB 20240209A was emitted from an 11.3 billion-year-old elliptical galaxy, 2 billion light-years from Earth and with a mass 100 billion times greater than the Sun.
The signal is a type of "radio burst," a fast and explosive type of radio signal that has long been a source of skepticism among scientists.
CHIME system, where strange radio signals were caught - Photo: DOMINION RADIO ASTRONOMIC OBSERVATORY
FRB 20240209A is a repeating radio telescope and was captured by CHIME, an interferometric radio telescope system at the Dominion Radio Astronomy Observatory in British Columbia, Canada.
A research team from Northwestern University (USA) believes that the most reasonable hypothesis is the formation of magnetars, an extreme type of neutron star with a fierce magnetic field.
Neutron stars are the "corpses" of giant stars that have collapsed into a compact but super-powerful object.
For a magnetar to form, we need a supernova collapse of a young, massive, but short-lived star.
But something absurd happened when they studied the elliptical galaxy from which FRB 20240209A originated: There was no sign of young stars on this old world.
Adding to the mystery of FRB 20240209A, the search to determine where in the elliptical galaxy it came from continues to reveal a surprise: 130,000 light-years from the galactic center, in the starless "outskirts."
According to astronomer Tarraneh Eftekhari, co-author of the new finding, this shows that radio bursts do not only come from young stars. There is something else, as yet unknown, lurking behind this strange signal pattern.
"This new radio burst shows us that just when you think you understand an astronomical phenomenon, the universe turns around and surprises us," said co-author Wen-fai Fong.
Previous studies have also suggested other possibilities for radio bursts: collisions between black holes or neutron stars, or even signals from aliens.
American researchers propose to learn more about the mysterious elliptical galaxy using the James Webb Space Telescope, developed and operated by NASA, which is also the world's most powerful space telescope.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/canada-bat-duoc-tin-hieu-radio-lap-lai-tu-the-gioi-huong-ellip-196250124092144751.htm
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