Something in Space is Sending Earth Signals Like Clockwork, Scientists Don’t Know Why

[tn1911]

Something in Space is Sending Earth Signals Like Clockwork, Scientists Don’t Know Why

https://sputniknews.com/science/2020...dont-know-why/

A new study by an international team of scientists led by astronomers at the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst Project (CHIME/FRB) in British Columbia has discovered that a mystery radio source in a galaxy some 500 million lightyears from our solar system is sending out fast radio bursts like clockwork in 16.35 day cycles, including 1-2 bursts per hour over a four day period and then 12 days of silence before starting up again.

[OH58D]

These signals are coming out of the past, since the source is 500 million light years away, in another Island of Stars (galaxy). There is a good chance that the source of these signals doesn't exist any longer, either intelligent or natural. Fascinating however.

[Alpha-17]

Interesting. First discovered in 2017, I wonder when it actually started.

[tn1911]

Interesting. First discovered in 2017, I wonder when it actually started.

Well, as OH58D said if the celestial location of the source is 500 million LR away and radio signals travel at the speed of light. Each signal we receive today would be 500 million years old.

It takes about 4 years for a radio signal to reach our nearest star

[jmp45]

This is interesting, especially the 12 days to recycle. When I was in ndt in southern Ohio in the country late 70s we worked near a property where the owner had two enormous surplus radio dish antennas. I asked the home owner what he was doing with them and he said he listens to pulsars. The 12 days of silence rules that out, else I'd guess that may be what they are observing.

[tn1911]

This is interesting, especially the 12 days to recycle. When I was in ndt in southern Ohio in the country late 70s we worked near a property where the owner had two enormous surplus radio dish antennas. I asked the home owner what he was doing with them and he said he listens to pulsars. The 12 days of silence rules that out, else I'd guess that may be what they are observing.

Indeed!

The repeating 12 day cycle is most interesting.

[WillBrink]

These signals are coming out of the past, since the source is 500 million light years away, in another Island of Stars (galaxy). There is a good chance that the source of these signals doesn't exist any longer, either intelligent or natural. Fascinating however.

Probably a neutron star.

[Alpha-17]

Well, as OH58D said if the celestial location of the source is 500 million LR away and radio signals travel at the speed of light. Each signal we receive today would be 500 million years old.

It takes about 4 years for a radio signal to reach our nearest star

Yeah, I get that. What I mean is when the signal first started reaching Earth. Basically, how long was the phone ringing before we noticed it? If it started a few weeks before it was detected, it's interesting. If it has been going on for millennia, and we just now noticed it, it's slightly less so.

[tn1911]

Yeah, I get that. What I mean is when the signal first started reaching Earth. Basically, how long was the phone ringing before we noticed it? If it started a few weeks before it was detected, it's interesting. If it has been going on for millennia, and we just now noticed it, it's slightly less so.

Oh gotcha, I’ve looked for other articles an non mention the date of first signal.

[tn1911]

Probably a neutron star.

Yes, possibly... but!

This quote is very interesting.

In their study, scientists analysed 28 bursts which took place between September 2018 and October 2019, confirming the pattern, and excitedly concluding “that this is the first detected periodicity of any kind in an FRB source.”

One possibility is that it is an object orbiting a sun which sends signals out only at a certain interval in its orbit.