Started By
Message
‘Extraordinary’ radio waves discovered coming from the heart of the Milky Way
Posted on 10/14/21 at 7:35 am
Posted on 10/14/21 at 7:35 am
CBS News
Astronomers have detected mysterious radio waves coming from the center of the Milky Way, but so far they have no idea what's causing it, according to a new study published Tuesday in the Astrophysical Journal.
A team of scientists from across the world discovered the object using the CSIRO radio telescope in Western Australia. Ziteng Wang, the lead author of the study and a PhD student at the University of Sydney, said in a press release that they initially believed it could be a spinning dead star called a pulsar, but its signal didn't match what they expected from those types of celestial objects.
"The strangest property of this new signal is that it is has a very high polarisation," Wang said. "This means its light oscillates in only one direction, but that direction rotates with time."
"The brightness of the object also varies dramatically, by a factor of 100, and the signal switches on and off apparently at random," Wang added. "We've never seen anything like it."
The radio signal — named ASKAP J173608.2-321635 after its coordinates — was "unique" because it started out invisible, then it turned bright and faded away before reappearing again, said Tara Murphy, who is Wang's PhD supervisor and professor at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy and the School of Physics.
"This behavior was extraordinary," she said.
( much more in link )
Astronomers have detected mysterious radio waves coming from the center of the Milky Way, but so far they have no idea what's causing it, according to a new study published Tuesday in the Astrophysical Journal.
A team of scientists from across the world discovered the object using the CSIRO radio telescope in Western Australia. Ziteng Wang, the lead author of the study and a PhD student at the University of Sydney, said in a press release that they initially believed it could be a spinning dead star called a pulsar, but its signal didn't match what they expected from those types of celestial objects.
"The strangest property of this new signal is that it is has a very high polarisation," Wang said. "This means its light oscillates in only one direction, but that direction rotates with time."
"The brightness of the object also varies dramatically, by a factor of 100, and the signal switches on and off apparently at random," Wang added. "We've never seen anything like it."
The radio signal — named ASKAP J173608.2-321635 after its coordinates — was "unique" because it started out invisible, then it turned bright and faded away before reappearing again, said Tara Murphy, who is Wang's PhD supervisor and professor at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy and the School of Physics.
"This behavior was extraordinary," she said.
( much more in link )
5
Posted on 10/14/21 at 8:55 am to Trumansfangs
There are odd things afoot in the center of our galaxy. A recent theory, put forth just a few months ago, is that the Milky Way doesn't have a supermassive black hole at its center. Instead, based on the odd behavior of passing gas clouds and a clump of stars, they think we might have a huge clump of Dark Matter there... a sort of pre-Super Massive Black Hole.
LINK
I wonder if these two phenomenons are interconnected? Could the mysterious radio waves be coming from one of those stars getting too close to the Dark Matter?
There is so much to learn in astrophysics.
LINK
I wonder if these two phenomenons are interconnected? Could the mysterious radio waves be coming from one of those stars getting too close to the Dark Matter?
There is so much to learn in astrophysics.
Posted on 10/14/21 at 10:13 am to Arksulli
I think the work of Nobel Prize-winning Andrea Ghez has put to rest the idea that there is anything but a black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The gif below is a sped up recording of the actual black hole’s effect upon nearby stars. To me it’s conclusive.
An enhancement of the above gif.
The size of the object being orbited by the stars, some of which are super massive is “tiny,” and too small, I think, for it to be a mass of dark matter unless, of course, dark matter has some super dense properties we have yet to discover. But then, we don’t know anything about the properties of dark matter except that it causes a gravitational effect.
An enhancement of the above gif.
The size of the object being orbited by the stars, some of which are super massive is “tiny,” and too small, I think, for it to be a mass of dark matter unless, of course, dark matter has some super dense properties we have yet to discover. But then, we don’t know anything about the properties of dark matter except that it causes a gravitational effect.
Posted on 10/19/21 at 8:15 pm to Trumansfangs
I heard it was a David Bowie song
Posted on 10/22/21 at 1:05 am to Trumansfangs
If I had to guess, it's probably playing the same 5 AC/DC, Aerosmith, and Eagles songs non stop all day like all other radio waves seem to be these days.
Posted on 10/24/21 at 10:32 pm to Trumansfangs
False alarm. Turns out it was Eli Gold broadcasting a spelling bee in Opelika.
Posted on 10/25/21 at 11:35 am to Kentucker
quote:
We must be looking almost right into the plane of S0-16's orbit, because that dude was like "not today sucka!"
Truly remarkable what we're actually seeing in those images.
It's making me get up in those "mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam" feels.
Posted on 10/26/21 at 8:42 am to Trumansfangs
If you have several granola bars, you'll hear Yakety Sax coming from Uranus.
Page 1 of 1
Popular
Back to top
Follow SECRant for SEC Football News