Scientists Discover Strange Radio Signal Coming from Our Galaxy

Scientists have determined mysterious radio signal bursts that have been detected in space have been observed within the Milky Way for the first time, the Independent reports.

Astronomers who previously observed fast radio bursts, which only last for fractions of a second, were unable to track the signal back to its origin because of their brevity, unpredictability, and tendency to emerge from far in space. However, in April scientists were able to determine one of the signals, known as FRBs, apparently originated from a star with a powerful magnetic field known as a magnetar.

"There's this great mystery as to what would produce these great outbursts of energy, which until now we've seen coming from halfway across the universe," said Kiyoshi Masui from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who headed the team that analyzed the brightness of the FRB. "This is the first time we've been able to tie one of these exotic fast radio bursts to a single astrophysical object."

McGill University PhD student Pragya Chawla, a co-author of the study published in Nature this week, added: "We calculated that such an intense burst coming from another galaxy would be indistinguishable from some fast radio bursts, so this really gives weight to the theory suggesting that magnetars could be behind at least some FRBs."

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