Powerful Radio Pulses Puzzle Astronomers
02 March 2005 - NewScientist.com news service ~ Stephen Battersby
(Puzzled? What part of intelligent ET communications don’t
they get??)
A mystery object near the centre of our galaxy is sending out powerful
pulses of radio waves. It is unlike any known source. A team of
astronomers led by Scott Hyman of Sweet Briar College, Virginia,
US, detected the mysterious source using the Very Large Array radio
telescope in New Mexico.
The pulses are coming from a spot just to one side of the galactic
centre. Each pulse lasts about 10 minutes, and they repeat regularly
every 77 minutes. If, as the researchers think, the source is near
the centre of the Milky Way, it would be one of the most powerful
emitters in the galaxy. The shape and timing of the pulses rules
out most known sources, such as radio pulsars.
The object could be a magnetar - a neutron star with an ultra-strong
magnetic field. "Magnetars store plenty of energy to power
the observed outbursts," says Hyman. Or it may be something
entirely new. To find out more, the team is studying it using the
Green Bank radio telescope in West Virginia, and hopes to use NASA's
Chandra space telescope to see if it is also spitting out X-rays.
Journal reference: Nature (vol 434, p 50)
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