While asking ourselves if we’re alone in the Universe or not seems like the ultimate question, the truth may not be so pleasant for us. If highly intelligent aliens exist out there, somewhere, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they would be eager to provide us the secrets of the Galaxy or for how to build better spaceships. They may as well turn out to be very hostile, and the American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson mocked the scenario of humans being able even to have a conversation with them.
But here we are, with no solid proof of aliens just yet. We are free to speculate how they could look like, and make other dozens of sci-fi movies based on the matter. But maybe we’re taking things for granted too easily.
Scientists can’t explain a mysterious signal coming from space every 157 days
A new “fast radio burst” (FRB) signal called FRB 121102 is coming from distance space, and repeats itself every 157 days. FRBs are mysterious flashes of millisecond-wave energy. The signal flares up for a period of 90 days and then goes silent for another 67 days. While astronomers are for the moment incapable of detecting the source of the FRB, the good news is that they’re still searching for answers.
The best explanation that humanity has for these FRBs is that they are put out by magnetars, which are supercharged neutron stars that are wobbling around their own axis. Other theories are claiming that the patterns could be caused by a neutron star that is orbiting a second star as part of a binary system. But you’re free to bet your money on aliens trying to communicate with us.
Kaustubh Rajwade, who is the lead author and postdoctoral researcher at The University of Manchester, declared:
This is an exciting result as it is only the second system where we believe we see this modulation in burst activity,
Scientists also claim the obvious: further observations for more FRBs will be needed in order to shed light on the mystery.
The findings were published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
