We are not alone? they pick up a radio signal from another galaxy

This Thursday, July 14, astronomers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, together with other institutions, announced that Some time ago they detected an extra radio signal from a galaxy located thousands of light years from planet Earth.

According to experts, this signal is repeated with a regularity, whose pattern is similar to that of the heartbeat.

Likewise, the signal was classified as a fast radio burst or special signal of unknown origin and was discovered since 2019, studying the radio telescope called the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment.

Also, this radio burst is considered the longest lasting and with the clearest periodic structure detected so far.

This signal was named 20191221A and has a duration of up to three seconds, that is, regarding 1,000 times longer than the average. Similarly, the Institute mentions that they repeat every 0.2 seconds and may be due to a radio pulsar or a magnetar, both varieties of neutron stars.

The scientists also found similarities to emissions from radio pulsars and magnetars in our galaxy. The difference, however, is that the new signal appears to be a million times brighter.

“This detection raises the question of what might cause this extreme signal that we’ve never seen before, and how can we use this signal to study the universe,” said Daniele Micilli, a postdoc at MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Studies.

Ultimately, scientists hope to detect more periodics from this source, which might be considered as a kind of astronomical clock.

Objectives of the James Webb Telescope

This telescope in previous days captured a compilation of images, shown by NASA, cataloged as a new era for astronomy.

“Each image is a new discovery,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Each one will give humanity a view of the universe that we have never seen before.”

After the release of the first images, astronomers from around the world will get time quotas to use the telescope. Projects have been competitively selected through a process in which applicants and the selectors do not know the identity of the others, to minimize bias.

In addition, Knicole Colon, also a member of NASA, stated that with these images they have “seen the effect of what happens when a planet and its atmosphere pass in front of the star, and the star’s light filters through the atmosphere, and can be broken down into wavelengths of light”.

The Webb was launched in December 2021 from French Guiana on an Ariane 5 rocket. After a journey of 1.6 million kilometers from Earth, It is orbiting the Sun in a region of space called the second Lagrange point.

It remains in a fixed position in relation to the Earth and the Sun, with a minimum need for fuel for course corrections.

The telescope’s primary mirror is over 6.5 meters wide and is made up of 18 gold-coated mirror segments. Like a camera held in hand, the structure must remain as stable as possible to achieve the best shots.

NASA estimates that the Webb may have a life of 20 years. The new telescope will solve fundamental questions regarding the cosmos with the help of its predecessors: Hubble and Spitzer, which represents a true milestone not only for astronomy, but for the world in general regarding the universe and what surrounds the planet.

*With information from Actualidad RT and AFP.