Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Exclusive: We Might Have First-Ever Detection of a Fast Radio Burst in Our Own Galaxy
Science Alert ^ | May 1, 2020 | Michelle Starr

Posted on 05/04/2020 2:05:55 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Work on this event is very preliminary, with astronomers madly scrambling to analyse the swathes of data. But many seem in agreement that it could finally point to the source of fast radio bursts (FRBs).

"This sort of, in most people's minds, settles the origin of FRBs as coming from magnetars," astronomer Shrinivas Kulkarni of Caltech, and member of one of the teams, the STARE2 survey that also detected the radio signal, told ScienceAlert.

Fast radio bursts are one of the most fascinating mysteries in the cosmos. They are extremely powerful radio signals from deep space, galaxies millions of light-years away, some discharging more energy than 500 million Suns. Yet they last less than the blink of an eye - mere milliseconds in duration - and most of them don't repeat, making them very hard to predict, trace, and therefore understand.

Potential explanations have ranged from supernovae to aliens (which, sorry, is extremely unlikely). But one possibility that has been picking up steam is that FRBs are produced by magnetars.

These are a particularly odd type of neutron star, the extremely dense core remnants left over after a massive star goes supernova. But magnetars have much more powerful magnetic fields than ordinary neutron stars - around 1,000 times stronger. How they got that way is something we don't understand well, but it has an interesting effect on the star itself

As gravitational force tries to keep the star together - an inward force - the magnetic field is so powerful, it distorts the star's shape. This leads to an ongoing tension between the two forces, Kulkarni explained, which occasionally produces gargantuan starquakes and giant magnetar flares

(Excerpt) Read more at sciencealert.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; fastradiobursts; frbs; magnetars; science; space; stringtheory
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-37 last
To: BenLurkin

21 posted on 05/04/2020 2:48:21 PM PDT by jerod (Nazi's were essentially Socialist in Hugo Boss uniforms... Get over it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

A guy named Alex Collier who spends a lot of time with aliens from Andromeda said they really appreciate Gerry Rafferty’s “Change of Heart” from his Sleepwalking album. I wish they got to hear “The Ark.”


22 posted on 05/04/2020 2:51:03 PM PDT by Rastus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

I have some serious reservations about the quality and integrity of our paid stargazers, anymore. The signals they receive may be over 100,000 years old, or even older. WHICH, is the perfect opportunity make-up the “observations”. Are they any better than our current cadre of meteorologists?


23 posted on 05/04/2020 2:54:51 PM PDT by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

https://gwac.wvu.edu/


24 posted on 05/04/2020 3:04:01 PM PDT by Reily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LouieFisk

“Radio noise from space. How novel.”

Yeah, decades ago we would use Casseopia as a radio source to tune the tracking of our big ground station antennas.


25 posted on 05/04/2020 3:11:43 PM PDT by doorgunner69 (Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading - T Jefferson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: doorgunner69

>>Yeah, decades ago we would use Casseopia as a radio source to tune the tracking of our big ground station antennas.

<<

I guess you did not know her like we did...


26 posted on 05/04/2020 3:16:29 PM PDT by freedumb2003 ("DonÂ’t mistake activity for achievement." - John Wooden)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Nateman

Are FRBs what happen when something goes full magnetard?


27 posted on 05/04/2020 3:18:17 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: doorgunner69

“Yeah, decades ago we would use Casseopia as a radio source to tune the tracking of our big ground station antennas.”

When I was a kid I learned I could tell if a thunderstorm was coming my way or going and how active the lightning in it was by the crackles & static on the AM radio band.


28 posted on 05/04/2020 3:22:53 PM PDT by LouieFisk
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: PIF
Given that there are between 100 and 400 billion stars and at least 100 billion planets in this galaxy, alien life is extremely likely...

So you're saying it is statistically likely that God created life in many places?

29 posted on 05/04/2020 3:26:38 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (I'd rather be anecdotally alive than scientifically dead...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin; 1FreeAmerican; A. Patriot; AndrewC; antonia; aristotleman; Bellflower; Boogieman; ...

Explosive Power

Stephen Smith June 19, 2019 THUNDERBOLT.INFO—Picture of the Day

“Burst”. Fractal by Stephen Smith. Jun 20, 2019

Gamma-ray Bursters (GRB), and Fast Radio Bursters (FRB) are thought by astronomers to be the most powerful energy sources in the Universe.

The problems associated with GRB observations are partially addressed in previous Pictures of the Day. GRBs are characterized by intense electromagnetic emissions, particularly rapid gamma-ray pulses. The first few GRBs were discovered at redshift distances approaching 12 billion light-years. Since some extreme supernovae are said to emit gamma-rays when they occur in stars containing many times the mass of the Sun, if the astrophysical distance calculations are accurate, then cosmic energy sources beyond supernovae called “hypernovae” must exist. However, that speculation does not include a mechanism by which a hypernova creates a GRB.

Double layers, on the other hand, were first described in 1929 by Nobel laureate, Irving Langmuir. Double layers form when electric charge flows through plasma. A previous Picture of the Day discussed the power output from any particular supernova, ascribing it to the explosion of a double layer within a star’s plasmasphere. Another Nobel laureate, Hannes Alfvén, described double layers as, “… a plasma formation by which a plasma—in the physical meaning of this word—protects itself from the environment. It is analogous to a cell wall by which a plasma—in the biological meaning of this word—protects itself from the environment.”

FRBs are thought to blast out more energy than the Sun puts out in a month inside of five milliseconds. However (ironically), instead of hypernovae, FRBs are surmised to result from black hole destruction. That idea is considered speculative, even by conventional astrophysicists. Instead, a more popular theory invokes another hypothetical entity, a “blitzar”. A blitzar is supposed to be a spinning neutron star whose angular momentum prevents it from collapsing into a black hole. Blitzars are “super lighthouses”. Since they are thought to be over 11 billion light-years away, their radio jets must be enormously powerful. For a blitzar radio burst to reach Earth, “overweight neutron stars” are necessary in the theory.

As a side note, “blazars” occur within active galaxy nuclei (AGN), so they are orders of magnitude more powerful than blitzars. Astronomers also say that blazars appear so powerful because they see their plasma jets head on. Blitzar jets are at stellar scales and are viewed at an angle.

Those violent radiation sources are detected through the use of redshift theory, so bizarre “explanations” are always necessary, in order to keep alive the idea that Doppler-shifted Fraunhofer lines can be used as a convenient yard stick.

Laboratory experiments reveal that the easiest way to accelerate electrons to high velocity is in an electric field. It is those high-velocity electrons that are associated with gamma-rays. Although astrophysicists see the “corkscrews”, as they call them, in their observations, they do not associate them with helical Birkeland currents creating z-pinches. Electric charge flow in plasma generates electromagnetic fields that constrict the current channels. Those electromagnetic filaments remain coherent over long distances, transmitting vast amounts of electricity through space. Those filaments are the jets seen in galaxies and stars, with concentrations of energy at various points.

In an Electric Universe, it is not merely magnetic fields twisting around like corkscrews that accelerate electrons and produce gamma-rays, it is electromagnetic fields.

Stephen Smith

—ELECTRIC/PLASMA UNIVERSE PING!


Clear Example of a Birkeland Current
"Z" Pinch with Symmetrical Plasmids
seen in Hubble Telescope View of
The Twin Jet Nebula
ELECTRIC/PLASMA UNIVERSE PING!

If you want on or off the Electric Universe/Plasma Ping List, Freepmail me.

30 posted on 05/04/2020 3:32:47 PM PDT by Swordmaker (My pistol self-identifies as an iPad, so you must accept it in gun-free zones, you hoplophobe bigot!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: aMorePerfectUnion

So you’re saying it is statistically likely that God created life in many places?

```

No. Not at all. G_D created life everywhere.


31 posted on 05/04/2020 3:45:47 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: nesnah

“Be sure to drink your Ovaltine”
Don’t forget to order your secret squadron codeograph from Captain Midnight


32 posted on 05/04/2020 3:52:33 PM PDT by mosesdapoet (mosesdapoet aka L.J.Keslin posting here for the record hoping somebody might read and pass around)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: nesnah

“A crummy commercial? Sonofabitch!”


33 posted on 05/04/2020 3:56:05 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

I’m betting it’s from my neighborhood kid’s insanely loud car stereo.


34 posted on 05/04/2020 4:14:26 PM PDT by Huskrrrr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin
When the signal is decoded, it might go something like this:

Well I saw the thing comin' out of the sky
It had the one long horn, one big eye
I commenced to shakin' and I said "ooh-eee"
It looks like a purple eater to me

35 posted on 05/05/2020 3:12:35 AM PDT by trebb (Don't howl about illegal leeches, or Trump in general, while not donating to FR - it's hypocritical.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin
Trailer from the movie "The Arrival"
36 posted on 05/05/2020 8:10:44 AM PDT by Oatka
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oatka
The Arrival (1996), starring Charlie Sheen

Budget: $25 million
Box office: $14 million

Arrival (2016), starring Amy Adams

Budget: $47 million
Box office: $203.4 million

37 posted on 05/07/2020 8:44:03 AM PDT by Steely Tom ([Seth Rich] == [the Democrats' John Dean])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-37 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson