Fast radio bursts (FRB) have been perplexing space experts for many years, and until now, scientists have not succeeded in figuring out the exact origin of these signals. Several space experts believe that fast radio bursts could be the result of natural causes, while another section of scientists argue that these bursts might be an indication of aliens trying to contact humans. Now, astronomers have detected a radio signal coming from a source within the Milky Way.
Origin of this fast radio burst
The study led by Paul Scholz, a researcher at the University of Toronto, Canada, suggested that the radio burst is coming from an active magnetar known as SGR 1935+2154. It should be noted that this active magnetar is a neutron star, which is basically the collapsed core of a massive star which could have a very powerful magnetic field.
Interestingly, this is for the first time that researchers are discovering fast radio bursts within the Milky Way galaxy. Researchers also made it clear that further observations are required to confirm their findings.
"We now have direct evidence that a known Galactic magnetar has produced a radio burst that is getting close to as bright as some known extragalactic FRB sources. It's basically guaranteed that some FRB sources must be, by analogy, bursting magnetars, but a key question remains: are they all bursting magnetars, or do FRBs come from a variety of different origins?" Jason W T Hessels, a Senior Scientist at ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy told Newsweek.
Fast radio bursts from a single source
A few months back, researchers led by scientists at the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst Project (CHIME/FRB) in British Columbia detected a mysterious FRB that came from a galaxy located almost 500 million light-years away. Surprisingly, these FRBs came in a 16.35-day cycle, and it made many space experts believe that something is strange with these signals.
However, space experts believe that these bursts might be sent by space bodies orbiting a star, that sends out signals only at a certain interval in its orbit. Even though several scientists assure the natural origin of these bursts, they have not ruled out the possibility of alien hand behind the transmission of these signals.
