Scientists are now able to pinpoint particularly bright radio bursts in the universe, which could be attributed to alien civilizations looking to make contact.
The brightest ever fast radio burst, which has been given the name FRB 150807 after its date of discovery, has left an incredible impression on researchers – and allowed them to get closer to the reason why the burst occurred in the first place.
It was bright enough to actually illuminate where it originated from, unlike most other bursts that have been difficult to pinpoint.
It has been concluded the August 2015 burst likely originated from a galaxy known as VHS7.
It lies between 3.2 and 6.5 billion light years away, meaning we don’t exactly know what lies that far afield.
The very first radio burst, known as the Lorimer burst, was discovered through Australia’s Parkes telescope totally by accident.
Astronomers were, instead, looking for for pulsed radio emissions from spinning neutron stars when they discovered the phenomenon.
Since then, several more have been detected by telescopes all over the world. Since then, their origins have been debated throughout the field of astronomy.
Some believe these cosmic bursts are collapsed cores of stars or black holes colliding with one another.
However, many think that the answer could lie in something even more mysterious – alien civilizations attempting to alert us to the presence.
It has been difficult for astronomers to trace their origin, mostly due to the fact that they believe they come from far outside of our galaxy and that the telescopes in use now are simply not strong enough to see that far into space.
They also seem to occur without pattern, making it very difficult to guess when one will happen.
Instead, they must almost always catch a star-gazing astronomer by surprise.
Studies show that this phenomenon is actually not as rare as astronomers once thought, and that there could be as many as 190 of these radio bursts per day.
The challenge, now, is determining how to map them and locate their origins to discover what exactly is causing these flashes.
And since we don’t know exactly what lies beyond our solar system, or what lies in it, an alien civilization attempting contact is just as likely as any other explanation.
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