Is something – or someone – trying to communicate with us?
the earth receiving odd radio bursts for decades — and Scientists Still not sure where it comes from.
And, to make matters even more terrifying, researchers now know that signals have been reaching our planet since 1988 — but no one knows what object is sending them.
Every 22 minutes for the past 35 years, there have been bursts of energy of various levels of light, sometimes lasting up to five minute intervals.
Scientists previously believed that it was impossible to send a signal of such frequency and brightness for such a long time – until this object was proven otherwise.
A new paper published in the journal ‘A Long-Period Radio Transient Has Been Active for Three Decades’ Nature Last week, researchers explained that the signal-emitting object is called GPMJ1839-10.
And, going back through old records, they quickly realized that this signal had been reaching Earth since 1988. 15,000 light years away.
There is a theory that the flashes may come from pulsars – these are neutron stars that spin rapidly and emit radio bursts.
Usually, when one of these emissions reaches Earth, they can be picked up very briefly and brightly, comparable to the flash from a rotating lighthouse.
Our planet can only pick up these signals if the object rotates fast enough and its magnetic field is strong enough – otherwise we wouldn’t be able to see it.
But signals from pulsars Usually when they die (known as the death line), a few months or years after they start emitting signals. That’s when their magnetic field becomes too weak to generate more high-energy radiation.
But this signal, received on Earth for more than 30 years, seems to be an exception.
If it’s not a pulsar, it could be a magnetar—another neutron star that has a larger magnetic field than a pulsar but rotates much more slowly.
However, in a statement, Natasha Hurley-Walker, a radio astronomer at the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research in Australia and lead author of a study on the object, said: said in a statement: “The object we found rotates too slowly to produce radio waves – it’s below the death line.
“Supposing it is a magnet, this object cannot generate radio waves. But we see them.
The object was first discovered in September 2022 by the Murchison Wyfield Array, a radio telescope array in the Australian outback.
Hurley-Walker explained that previous scientists had “missed” the radio waves and “didn’t expect to find anything like that.”
The object’s slow rotation, long pulse period, and long emission period defy all models that could explain it.
She added: “This remarkable object challenges our understanding of neutron stars and magnetars, which are some of the strangest and most extreme objects in the universe.
“Any mechanism behind this is extraordinary.”