[ad_1]
Scientists have managed to take another step in the search to solve the numerous mysteries that the Universe hides.
Now, they have managed to track down a very short and very bright burst of radio waves to some kind of dead star highly magnetized, known as magnetar (OR magnetoestrella).
IS first time That a fast radio burst —Or FRB – in a specific source.
This type of astrophysical phenomena was first detected in 2007. They have been since then one of the hottest topics in astronomy.
The new discovery, explained in three studies published in the journal Nature, was performed by two independent sets of radio telescopes in North America.
The observations, coinciding with those of other astronomical structures both in space and on the ground, have helped characterize the event and strengthen your interpretation.
The source of the magnetar is designated by scientists with the complex formula SGR 1935 + 2154.
It is about 30,000 light years away, which is interesting because so far all previous detections of this type of explosion have come from outside our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
The properties of those just detected in our galaxy, however, are very similar to other fast bursts occurring beyond the Milky Way.
Bright event
The event took place on April 28 this year. It lasted about a millisecond, but it was extremely bright.
Artist’s impression of a magnetar which, after its surface cracks, releases the stored energy in its powerful magnetic field. Source EFE
“We were able to determine that the scattered energy is comparable to the energies of extragalactic fast radio bursts. In just one millisecond, this magnetar has emitted as much energy into the radio waves as it emits [nuestro] Sun in 30 seconds “, Christopher Bochenek, who led the design and construction of the Stare2 radio receiver network, which extends California and Utah (EE.UU.).
As early as 2007, the main suspects of the origin of FRBs were magnetars, which are a neutron star type: strange and compact objects in which matter has been compressed into a very small volume. It is a state that some normal stars can shrink to when they run out of fuel and collapse in on themselves.
The magnetarsAs the name suggests, they have strong magnetic fields, billions of times more than the Earth’s magnetic field, for example.
The theory suggests that these objects it can fire huge amounts of energy which then collide with the surrounding environment, which in turn generates large emissions in radio and other wavelengths.
This is an idea, but many other models have been proposed.
Other sources
“Given the distance from the source, this is the brightest radio flash ever detected in our galaxy, “said Daniele Michilli of the team that manages the Chime telescope in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
“The brightness is still lower than that of fast radio bursts (from outside our Milky Way), but it shows that magnetars can release a large amount of radio energy with properties like FRB, which implies that at least [algunas] The FRBs probably come from magnetars. “
Bing Zhang, who works on the new giant radio telescope in China —The FAST observatory (spherical telescope with an aperture of 500 meters), also called Tianyan– said that other possible sources of FRB are under study.
It could be giant stars colliding and neutron stars collapsing further to become a black hole, an event called blitzar.
For example, they might be colliding giant stars and neutron stars They experience further collapse to become a black hole, an event called blitzar.
Such phenomena could explain the class of explosions which appear to be single events.
“But until now, we still don’t have anything to support these scenarios“told reporters.” If they exist, they must be very, very rare. Only a small fraction of fast radio bursts can be catastrophic. “
Source: BBC
Source link
