A radio signal known as a fast radio burst (FRB) was detected by astronomers, and now they’re struggling to find out its source. Paul Scholz announced the discovery, who works at the University of Toronto, Canada. He also spoke on behalf of the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (aka CHIME) and FRB Collaboration.
The most enthusiastic people are placing their bets on intelligent life forms from another planet as being the cause of the new radio signal. While this isn’t at all a scenario that should be ruled out, there are also several other things that could serve as sources for a radio signal. We can mention here black holes, clashes of neutron stars, and more. Nobody says that aliens don’t exist, and maybe we would be glad to encounter them someday and shake hands, but surely black holes and neutron stars are more common in the Universe.
The radio signal may be coming from a neutron star
Scientists have found that the new radio signal is coming from the neutron star dubbed as SGR 1935+2154. The discovery is only preliminary, as new observations are required for confirmation. Scientists need to know better what’s going on there.
However, ‘alien hunters’ shouldn’t lose hope just yet. There are still chances that some highly intelligent beings had emitted the radio signal while trying to contact us. Given how insanely big is the galaxy and not to mention the Universe, chances are at least as big that intelligent life forms from other planets are wondering just like us if they are alone in the Universe or not. While the scenario of ever encountering them as they’ll give us the chances for better understanding the Universe is great, we also have to take into account the hypothesis of them not being friendly at all.
Whether we are alone in the Universe or not, the truth is that both scenarios are overall equally frightening.
