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New Delhi. Astronomers engaged in exploring the unsolved mysteries of the unfathomable universe have achieved such an unexpected and shocking success, which has created a stir among the scientific world as well as the common people. Modern radio telescopes have successfully recorded an extremely intense, precise and regularly spaced, mysterious radio signal coming from deep space. As soon as this news became public, the claim started spreading rapidly on social media and international forums that humans have finally discovered the confirmed location of alien life and this signal could be a message sent by some advanced extraterrestrial civilization.
The global team of scientists has started closely studying the source of this signal, its distance and nature. Although, at first glance, this phenomenon seems like something from a science-fiction movie, but space scientists and astrophysicists say that before reaching any conclusion, it is mandatory to understand the real cosmic physics and scientific facts behind this signal.
These intense signals coming from space are called ‘Fast Radio Bursts’ (FRB) in the language of science. These are momentary flashes of radio waves that are highly energetic and last for milliseconds. A typical FRB emits as much energy in a few milliseconds as our Sun produces over several days or months.
Typically most radio bursts ever recorded fade away forever in the universe once they shine, making their exact source impossible to trace. But the most strange and surprising feature of the signal that has been detected recently is its ‘regularity’ and ‘periodic pattern’. This signal is being transmitted towards the earth repeatedly at a fixed interval and in a rhythmic cycle. It is this exact pattern that has peaked the curiosity of scientists and left people wondering whether this is an artificially created transmission by some intelligent civilization.
Whenever a signal is received from space that matches human mathematical patterns, the first thought that comes is whether an alien world present in a distant galaxy is trying to contact us? Famous scientist Carl Sagan said that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
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Effect of natural celestial bodies: The primary assessment of leading space observatories and radio telescope scientists is that this signal may not be a message from aliens, but the activity of a ‘magnetar’ or ‘Neutron Star’, one of the most extreme and powerful objects in the universe.
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Incredible magnetic field of magnetar: Magnetars are the extremely dense remains of dead stars that have the most powerful magnetic fields in our entire universe. When a massive tectonic or ‘starquake’ occurs in the outer layer of these stars, trillions of volts of magnetic energy is dispersed into space in the form of intense gusts of radio waves.
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Cycle of Binary Star System: When stars revolve around another giant star or a black hole, the waves emitted due to their rotation appear like a regular pattern or signal to observers sitting on Earth.
The world’s most sensitive and massive network of radio telescopes has played an important role in making this historic discovery possible. Prominent among these are Canada’s ‘CHIME’ (Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment) telescope, Australia’s ‘Skapath’ (ASKAP) and India’s giant ‘GMRT’ (Giant Metrowave Radio Telescope – GMRT, Pune).
These telescopes scan microscopic electromagnetic waves coming from millions of light years away every second. With the help of state-of-the-art AI-based algorithms, this extremely fine and distant radio wave has been separated by filtering out cosmic background noise. According to preliminary data, this signal is coming from an unknown host galaxy located at a distance of billions of light years outside our galaxy (Milky Way).
Even though there is currently no direct and indisputable evidence of an alien civilization being behind this signal, this discovery is still a milestone in the history of astronomy. International organizations like ‘SETI’ (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) have been keeping an ear to the sky in search of similar non-random signals for decades.
Even if it turns out to be the result of some natural extreme event, it would revolutionize scientists’ understanding of how matter behaves in extreme gravity and the cosmic vacuum. These whispers coming from the deepest corners of the universe remind us that there are countless mysteries buried in this infinite space that are yet to be uncovered. Spectral analysis by the James Webb Space Telescope and ground-based observatories in the coming months will provide final confirmation of the true source of this mysterious signal.