For those who believe in aliens, here's some good news.?A mysterious repeating radio burst has been traced by astronomers to a nearby galaxy that closely resembles the milky way.?
The signal, which lasts less than two-thousandths of a second and repeats four times over the span of five hours, was originally detected in 2018.?
According to reports, the radio bursts were found in Galaxy FRB 180916, which is situated half-a-billion light-years from earth.
According to?Sarah Burke-Spolaor, assistant professor of physics and astronomy and co-author on a new paper in Nature said that identifying the host galaxy is very important for understanding the fast-radio bursts.?
"Identifying the host galaxy for FRBs (fast-radio bursts )is critical to tell us about what kind of environments FRBs live in, and thus what might actually be producing FRBs," said Sarah Burke-Spolaor, assistant professor of physics and astronomy and co-author on a new paper in Nature.
The tricky part is that the fast-radio bursts last for a few milliseconds and could originate anywhere in the sky, however, the scientists are excited to find out about the galaxy which is similar to our own.
"With the characterisation of this source, the argument against pulsar-like emission as the origin for repeating FRBs is gaining strength," said Ramesh Karuppusamy of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany.?
"We are on the verge of more such localisations brought about by the upcoming newer telescopes. These will finally allow us to establish the true nature of these sources."
Astronomers believe that a further study of the burst?could give further clues about the origin of such signals?but are still not saying that aliens exist. So don't get too excited. For all?the alien enthusiasts out there, here's a reminder: We still need to find out what Area 51 is all about, so hold your horses.?