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Epic cosmic radio burst finally seen in real time
www.newscientist.com ^
| 08:00 19 January 2015
| by Michael Slezak
Posted on 01/20/2015 10:42:42 AM PST by Red Badger
A gigantic but fleeting burst of radio waves has been caught in the act for the first time, helping to narrow down the vast array of things that might cause them. Figuring out what these fast radio bursts are or where they come from could help answer some of the biggest cosmological questions.
They last about a millisecond but give off as much energy as the sun does in a day, all seemingly in a tight band of radio-frequency waves.
Their source is a mystery, but whatever causes them must be huge, cataclysmic and up to 5.5 billion light years away, says Emily Petroff of Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia.
A top contender is the collapse of an oversized neutron star that should have given way to a black hole long ago, but was spinning so fast that relativity made it seem lighter. But other possibilities include a flare from a magnetar, a type of neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field.
A total of nine fast radio bursts have been reported since the first was discovered in 2007, but all of them were found weeks or years after the actual event by sifting through old data.
[SNIP]
Corrections, 20 January 2014: When this article was first published, it referred to fast radio bursts as "blitzars", but blitzars are just one possible account of what FRBs might be. And the figure we initially gave for the amount of energy that the blasts give off in a millisecond was significantly overblown. Both things have now been corrected.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
TOPICS: Astronomy; Education; History; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; frb; physics; radiowaves; space; star
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Could the blasts be from neutron stars? (Image: Mark Garlick/SPL/Getty)
Blitzars?..............
To: SunkenCiv; KevinDavis
SPACE PING!..........................
2
posted on
01/20/2015 10:43:05 AM PST
by
Red Badger
(If you compromise with evil, you just get more evil..........................)
To: Red Badger
They last about a millisecond but give off as much energy as the sun does in a day, all seemingly in a tight band of radio-frequency wave Good thing we were not the target.
To: Red Badger
4
posted on
01/20/2015 10:47:16 AM PST
by
OneWingedShark
(Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
To: OneWingedShark
Heh, that guy competes with the Obamadork for the “Multiverse’s most idiotic individual”.
It’s a close race.
Keep tuned.
5
posted on
01/20/2015 10:50:08 AM PST
by
Da Coyote
To: Red Badger; SunkenCiv; GeronL
Their source is a mystery, but whatever causes them must be huge, cataclysmic and up to 5.5 billion light years away, says Emily Petroff of Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia. A top contender is the collapse of an oversized neutron star that should have given way to a black hole long ago, but was spinning so fast that relativity made it seem lighter. But other possibilities include a flare from a magnetar, a type of neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field. It's the black box beacon signal from Malaysian Flight 370
6
posted on
01/20/2015 10:51:30 AM PST
by
a fool in paradise
(Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
To: TexasCajun
Get prayed up.
Don’t stand near any mooslims.
7
posted on
01/20/2015 10:53:19 AM PST
by
Scrambler Bob
(/s /s /s /s /s, my replies are "liberally" sprinkled with them behind every word and letter.!)
To: a fool in paradise
lol
Is CNN still looking?
8
posted on
01/20/2015 10:58:18 AM PST
by
GeronL
To: a fool in paradise
9
posted on
01/20/2015 10:59:20 AM PST
by
Red Badger
(If you compromise with evil, you just get more evil..........................)
To: Red Badger
Instructions from his home planet’s galactic invasion control center— being beamed directly into TOTUS.
10
posted on
01/20/2015 11:02:31 AM PST
by
faithhopecharity
((Brilliant, Profound Tag Line Goes Here, just as soon as I can think of one..)
To: OneWingedShark
In the science fiction novel written by Carl Sagan and published in 1985, ‘Contact’ , not the horrid stupid movie they made from it, the pulsars and other such phenomena are claimed by the aliens as there ‘work’ in progress to keep the universe from collapsing in on itself or going on and dissipating into cold dark nothingness, and we should ignore them for the time being.....................
11
posted on
01/20/2015 11:03:49 AM PST
by
Red Badger
(If you compromise with evil, you just get more evil..........................)
To: Red Badger; 6SJ7; AdmSmith; AFPhys; Arkinsaw; allmost; aristotleman; autumnraine; bajabaja; ...
12
posted on
01/20/2015 11:04:51 AM PST
by
SunkenCiv
(Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
To: Red Badger; SunkenCiv; KevinDavis
Maybe baby, it’s Buddy Holly tunes on the mom-back circuit.
13
posted on
01/20/2015 11:07:43 AM PST
by
Kenny Bunk
(Gay Muslim guy from Mombasa as POTUS? Sure! What could possibly go wrong?)
To: Red Badger
Caught in the act? Seen by us tiny apes now but happened five and half billion years ago? Methinks the statute of limitations has run out.
14
posted on
01/20/2015 11:08:11 AM PST
by
katana
(Just my opinions)
To: Red Badger
15
posted on
01/20/2015 11:08:36 AM PST
by
SWAMPSNIPER
(The Second Amendment, a Matter of Fact, Not A Matter of Opinion)
To: SunkenCiv
It was a massive disturbance in the force,as if a billion souls all screamed at the same time and then disappeared.
To: Craftmore
no... just a slight headache.
17
posted on
01/20/2015 11:12:11 AM PST
by
SpinnerWebb
(IN-SAPORIBVS-SICVT-PVLLVM)
To: Red Badger
To: Red Badger
other possibilities include a flare from a magnetar,
a type of neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field Some radio stars with magnetic personalities flare up for a time before burning out
19
posted on
01/20/2015 11:30:24 AM PST
by
mikrofon
(Promises in the Dark)
To: mikrofon
Some just collapse under their own weight....................
20
posted on
01/20/2015 11:34:55 AM PST
by
Red Badger
(If you compromise with evil, you just get more evil..........................)
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