Context:
A strange radio signal (called Fast Radio Bursts) has been detected in a galaxy several billion light-years from Earth, a recent study claimed.
Relevance:
GS III- Science and Technology
Dimensions of the Article:
- What is an FRB?
- Why are they significant?
What is an FRB?
- Since the first FRB was spotted in 2007, researchers have been trying to determine where they came from.
- FRBs are essentially brilliant radio wave bursts (radio waves can be produced by astronomical objects with changing magnetic fields).
- The X-ray component of the simultaneous bursts was detected by several satellites, including NASA’s Wind mission; in addition, a NASA-funded project called Survey for Transient Astronomical Radio Emission 2 (STARE2) also detected the radio burst;
- However, because of their millisecond durations, it is challenging to detect them and determine their position in the sky.
Why are they significant?
- First noticed in 2018 by the Canadian observatory the waves have created ripples across the globe for one reason — they arrive in a pattern.
- This gave birth to theories that they could be from an alien civilization.
- Initially, it was believed that the collision of black holes or neutron stars triggers them.
- But the discovery of repeating FRBs debunked the theory of colliding objects.
-Source: Down to earth
