Powerful Radio Signal From Deep Space Appears to Be Repeating in a 16-Day Cycle

[Judi Lynn]

MICHELLE STARR10 FEB 2020

One of the defining characteristics of the mysterious deep-space signals we call fast radio bursts is that they are unpredictable. They belch out across the cosmos without rhyme or reason, with no discernible pattern, making them incredibly hard to study.

Now, for the first time, astronomers have found a fast radio burst (FRB) that repeats on a regular cycle.

Every 16.35 days, the signal named FRB 180916.J0158+65 follows a similar pattern. For four days, it will spit out a burst or two every hour. Then it falls silent for 12 days. Then the whole thing repeats.

Astronomers with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) Collaboration in Canada observed this cycle for a total of 409 days. We don't yet know what it means; but it could be another piece in the complicated conundrum of FRBs. The research has been uploaded to pre-print server arXiv, where it awaits scrutiny from other experts in the field.

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/periodicity-has-been-detected-in-a-repeating-fast-radio-burst

[mr_lebowski]

1. Aw man I was hoping it was going to turn out to be an exactly 16 earth day cycle ...

THAT would've been mind-blowing and would have astronomers freaking the heck out.

Still cool and all, look forward to hearing more about it

[GetRidOfThem]

5. Little green men playing with that darn transmitter again...

[progressoid]

2. This is required...

[JohnnyRingo]

3. Actual radio transcript of the FRB

Last edited Mon Feb 10, 2020, 05:17 AM - Edit history (1)

We're no strangers to love ♪
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy ♫
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down ♫
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

[underpants]

8. 😁

[Judi Lynn]

19. Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh.

[Dem2theMax]

4. They're here!

They are trying to figure out one of two things:

1. Are all of us stupid enough to put the orange shitgibbon in office?

Or,

2. Are some of us actually smart, and we need to be rescued from the stupid ones and the orange shitgibbon in office?

I hope they realize it's number two, and they save us.
Soon.

[Aussie105]

6. It's the signal I've been waiting for!

And they have finally responded to my invitation to visit!

16.3 day blips? Ok, that means they will be here in 16.3 million years. Plenty of time to put the welcome mat out!

I have a sudden urge to watch that futuristic film, "Mars Attacks!" (1996)

Seriously though, probably a binary star system with the radio source regularly shielded by a larger body rotating around it.

[betsuni]

7. Contact!

[pnwest]

10. I friggin loooove that movie. I have a

fantasy of writing the sequel to it.

[betsuni]

11. It's a good movie.

I had such a crush on Carl Sagan. His turtleneck sweaters and corduroy jackets, the special way he pronounced the word "billions."

[Wounded Bear]

14. Well, I kinda crushed on Jodie Foster...

Carl Sagan was great as the everyman voice of science. Was a bit worried, but Neil deGrasse Tyson's remake of Cosmos was damn good, too.

[htuttle]

18. or "Eumans"

[walkingman]

9. Cool!

[colsohlibgal]

12. Could Be ET Or Not

I’m pretty confident there is abundant other sentient life out there somewhere. Like David Morse, playing Jodie Foster’s character’s Dad In “Contact” said if no one’s out there it would be an awful waste of Space.

We can’t at this point understand how they could travel multiple light years so fast but.....do you think people in the year 1400 would have believed that in about 600 years people could hold a small object in their hand, not connected to anything, type something on it and someone clear across the country, holding the same thing, would see it?

Too many credible people have seen things that may well be Interstellar.....and in one case, one of the Astronaut’s can clearly be heard saying “We still have the Alien Spacecraft under observation”.

[3Hotdogs]

13. We know aliens are also searching for ET signals.

Imagine their first signal being Orange Asshole's Prayer Breakfast speech.

[Wednesdays]

15. Those aliens need to put a little more variety in their playlist.

[Canoe52]

16. Just old Lucy reruns they are sending back at us.

They loved the chocolate factory one..

[bronxiteforever]

17. translated it says "to serve man"