an international team of scientists have recorded the second in the history of observations in the case of cyclical transmission of high-power short radio signals from space that are repeated with a periodicity of 157 days.
a Brief report about the discovery is published on the website of the University of Manchester (UK). We are talking about the mysterious signals, known as FRB. They were first discovered in 2007.
Until recently it was believed that these signals are not only short, but also one-time. However, not so long ago, scientists analyzed the FRB 180916.J10158 + 56, which was discovered by the CHIME telescope in Canada, and found that this signal repeats itself every 16 days.
In the new study, astronomers studied 32 fast burst. As a result, they found that the event, known as FRB 121102, is also subject to cycles. However, his cycle about 10 times longer than the above.
Scientists say that this event has pretty awesome features. It is as if consists of two “Windows”. In the first of them for 90 days observed radio bursts. After him comes the silent period of calm for a period of 67 days. This cycle repeats every 157 days.
the Researchers believe their discovery provides an important clue to determine the origin of these mysterious fast radio signals. The presence of a regular sequence of activity flares can attest to the fact that they are associated with the orbital motion of a massive star, a neutron star or a black hole.
“This is an exciting discovery underlines how little we know about the origin of the FRB, says co-author with Duncan Lorimer. – Further observations of a large number of FRB to get a clearer picture about the sources of these periodic signals and to establish their origin.”
