CNN Indonesia
Monday 15 January 2024 10:00 WIB
Illustration. Numerous astronomers have managed to trace the origin of the most powerful and distant radio signal ever detected. (Photo: screenshot of the skao.int website)
Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
A number astronomer he managed to trace its origins radio signal the strongest and most distant ever detected, comes from the cosmic home. This unexpected discovery is believed to provide answers to the causes of the mysterious bursts of radio waves that have remained a mystery for years.
This strong signal, named FRB 20220610A, was first detected on June 10, 2022, and this radio wave traveled a distance of 8 billion light years to reach Earth.
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are bursts of intense radio waves, lasting milliseconds, of unknown origin. The first FRB was discovered in 2007, and since then hundreds of fast cosmic bursts have been detected coming from distant points across the universe.
This fast radio burst lasted less than a millisecond, but was four times more energetic than previously detected FRBs.
A preliminary study published last October revealed that the flare released energy emissions equivalent to the Sun’s energy for 30 years.
Radio telescopes have proven useful in tracking the paths of fast cosmic flashes, so researchers used the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder, or ASKAP, radio telescope in Western Australia and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile to determine where the mysterious explosions came from.
The observations led scientists to locate the giant cluster of celestial bodies, which was initially thought to be a single irregular galaxy or a group of three interacting galaxies.
Now, astronomers have used images from the Hubble Space Telescope to reveal that these fast radio bursts come from a group of at least seven galaxies so close together that they all fall within the Milky Way galaxy.
The findings were presented Tuesday at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society in New Orleans.
Unique and unusual group of galaxies
According to experts, the galaxies in the group appear to be interacting with each other and may even be merging, which is thought to trigger rapid radio bursts.
“Without the Hubble images, it would still be a mystery whether these FRBs came from a single monolithic galaxy or some kind of interacting system,” said study lead author Alexa Gordon, a doctoral candidate in astronomy in the Weinberg College of Arts at Northwestern University. and Science, citing CNN.
Another researcher, Wen-fai Fong, a professor of physics and astronomy at Northwestern, said the group of galaxies, known as dense clusters, are an extraordinary group and an example of the “densest galactic-scale structure we know of.”
When galaxies interact, they can trigger bursts of star formation, which could be related to the explosion.
“We just need to continue to find more of these FRBs, both near and far, and in all different types of environments,” Gordon said.
Investigating the causes of fast radio bursts
Nearly 1,000 fast radio bursts have been detected since their initial discovery about two decades ago, but astronomers still don’t know exactly what causes them.
According to the latest research, a star’s magnetar, which has enormous magnetic force, is the main possible cause of fast radio bursts.
Understanding where fast radio bursts come from can help astronomers further determine the underlying causes that cause these bursts to spread throughout the universe.
“In that small fraction, only a few come from dense galactic environments, but they have never been seen in such a dense cluster. So, their birthplace is really rare.” Dong is a National Science Foundation graduate researcher and doctoral candidate in astronomy in Fong’s lab at Northwestern.
Further information about fast radio signals could also shed light on the nature of the universe.
“Radio waves, in particular, are sensitive to any interfering material along the line of sight, from the location of the FRB to our area,” Fong said.
This means that the waves must pass through any cloud of material around the FRB site, through the host galaxy, through the universe, and finally through the Milky Way. From the time delay in the FRB signal itself, we can quantify the sum of these contributions.
Astronomers foresee increasingly sensitive future methods for detecting fast radio bursts that could lead to the discovery of more radio bursts at greater distances.
“We’re trying to answer the questions: What caused it? What was their ancestor, and what was their origin? Hubble’s observations provide a spectacular glimpse into the kind of surprising environment that gave rise to this mysterious event,” Fong said.
(rfi/dmi)
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2024-01-15 03:00:45
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