Unreal.
Mysterious radio signals have been heard coming from a galaxy 1.5 billion years away so yeah, get the passports ready lads because we’re about to travel to a gaff on some other planet to hang out with some aliens.
… Or we’re about to discover that some stars are just hitting off each other and causing a bit of a ruckus.
Either or.
Scientists in Canada picked up the blasts of radio waves from an unknown source last year, and although they haven’t got a notion as to where they’ve come from, more of the same events could lead to an eventual understanding of what we’re dealing with.
BBC reports the 13 fast radio signals, called FRBs, all came from the same unknown source in a galaxy far, far away.
Ingrid Stairs, an astrophysicist from the University of British Columbia, said that a similar discovery was only heard once before – by a different telescope.
“Knowing that there is another suggests that there could be more out there,” she said.
“And with more repeaters and more sources available for study, we may be able to understand these cosmic puzzles – where they’re from and what causes them.”
While the obvious (and most desirable) answer to this question is aliens, the signals could also be generated by two neutron stars merging together, or a neutron star spinning very fast indeed.
We’d rather it just straight up be aliens though.
