Report: 'Insanely Powerful' Space Signal May Have 'Artificial Origin'

The universe's "invisible light" is sending "puzzling pulses" of "mysterious, ultrastrong sparks of energy" toward us from deep space in the way of fast radio bursts (FRBs) and may be a signal from extraterrestrial life, according to a Live Science.

The FRBs may "last just a few milliseconds" and cross "billions of light-years across the universe from unknown origins, for unknown reasons," as happened July 25, according to the report.

It is possible the "insanely powerful" and bright flashes have an "artificial origin," such as extraterrestrial life, if they do not come from exploding stars, black holes, or pulsars,"
according to Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics scientist Avi Loeb.

"Fast radio bursts are exceedingly bright given their short duration and origin at great distances, and we haven't identified a possible natural source with any confidence," Loeb told Live Science.

FRB 180725A (named for the year, month, and day it was detected) sent a low frequency wave of 580 megahertz, which is almost 200 MHz lower than other FRBs, according to a statement released in The Astronomer's Telegram .

"[O]ne such burst of mysterious energy whizzed past a new array of radio telescopes nestled in the mountains of British Columbia, Canada, registering one of the rarest radio frequencies ever detected," Live Science reported.

"These events have occurred during both the day and night, and their arrival times are not correlated with known on-site activities or other known sources," Patrick Boyle, project manager for the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) that detected it, per the report.

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