Radio from a Galaxy Far, Far Away scim.ag/19Y7riN Researchers have detected short, bright radio bursts from four distant sources that appear to originate from outside the Milky Way Galaxy. Similar exotic objects have been identified in the past, but until now it has not been possible for astronomers to determine whether their origins were celestial or terrestrial. Thornton and colleagues analyzed data from the Parkes radio telescope in Australia and determined that these newly identified radio bursts are celestial in nature, originating from distances well beyond our galaxy. The radio bursts are somewhat comparable to the pulses of nearby #pulsars (or neutron stars), they say, but unlike pulsars, these bursts are non-repeating. It’s not currently possible to determine the exact causes of these fast radio bursts, according to the researchers, but if more of them are identified, astronomers might be able to exploit their properties to study far-off galaxies and the #intergalactic medium that separates them. See also a Perspective article by James Cordes: scim.ag/19YhcgL
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 13:02:26 +0000
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