Aliens might be contacting us. About six bursts of radio waves originating from a constellation that is 3 billion light years away have been detected. By using a high-powered radio telescope, researchers detected a mysterious burst of energy from outer space in Montreal, West Virginia. Each constellation lasted for a few seconds.
Radio signals could be aliens
This is the second time the scientists have recorded FSBs or “fast radio bursts” from the same location. The last recording picked up 11 FSBs from the source that is about 3 billion light years away. Also this is the only instance of FSBs being recorded two times from the same part of outer space, according to a recent report in the Astrophysical Journal.
This means that the pulses were not the result of a singular event like the collapse of a star. The researchers have not negated the possibility that the mysterious signals originated from extra-terrestrial intelligence. Scientists, however, also say that the signal is more likely to be solar flares from a young star.
The Green Bank Telescope detected the radio waves in West Virginia and at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. In the Astrophysical Journal, the team confirmed their discovery. In the report, the scientists wrote “whether FRB 121102 is a unique object in the currently known sample of FRBs, or all FRBs are capable of repeating, its characterization is extremely important to understanding fast extragalactic radio transients.”
A significant discovery for sure
Considering that at least 17 FRDs have been detected in this region, the discovery is significant. Five of the FRBs were detected with the Green Bank Telescope, whereas others were recorded by the Arecibo Observatory. The signals were discovered earlier this year and in 2012 as well.
Signals like these are, in some cases, turned over to SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) for further analysis, says the Mirror. This was done in August when it was found that a Russian telescope picked up a signal similar to it coming from deep space. SETI, unfortunately, poured cold water on the notion that “finally we had picked up proof of aliens.”
Senior Astronomer at SETI Institute Seth Shostak said, “The chance that this is truly a signal from extraterrestrials is not terribly promising, and the discoverers themselves apparently doubt that they’ve found ET. Nonetheless, one should check out all reasonable possibilities, given the importance of the subject.”
