We receive radio signals from space. They repeat every 54 minutes, and modern physics cannot explain them.

This is far from the first case of such a phenomenon. Ground-based radio telescopes have previously collected radio signals from space, and astrophysicists have managed to do this. explain plausibly Most of them. In fact, stars, nebulae, galaxies and even planets are astronomical sources of radio waves that cosmologists can identify from Earth from time to time.

Of course, we are not talking about frivolously attributing the authorship of these signals to an extraterrestrial civilization. There are many possible completely natural explanations that often fit the mystery perfectly. For example, the pulsar GPMJ1839-10 emits a periodic radio signal that reaches Earth every 21 minutes. Astrophysicists have been observing it for at least 35 years and they know it well. There is no mystery here. However, the story we are about to tell you is different. And exciting.

This very strange radio signal oscillates between three different states.

The main characters this time are the MeerKAT radio telescopes, installed in South Africa, and ASKAP, located in Australia. In fact, it was the latter who was the first to catch the rare radio signal that this article is devoted to. The astronomers who controlled it realized that they were receiving a radio signal with a precise frequency of 53.8 minutes. At the moment, there is nothing surprising, since other similar signals come to Earth, including from pulsars and other types of neutron stars.

However, it didn’t take them long to realize that this radio signal was different from the others. And this is very unusual for a reason: it goes through three completely different states. Sometimes it emits flashes lasting from 10 to 50 s, and in these cases the radio waves spread in one direction. In other cases, the pulses are much shorter (about 370 ms in duration) and travel in all directions. And finally, at some moments the object causing this signal is completely “silent”. In absolute silence.

Astrophysicists studying this cosmological phenomenon published a very interesting article in the journal Nature Astronomy, which explains everything in great detail. Dr. Manisha Kaleb, lead author of this study, confirms that we are faced with an unprecedented phenomenon: “The most intriguing thing is that this object exhibits three different states of radiation, and each of them has completely different properties from the other two. (…) The MeerKAT radio telescope played a decisive role in distinguishing between these conditions.”

Be that as it may, the most amazing thing is that the strange radio signal that reaches the Earth is unlike any other we have received before. Astrophysicists, led by Caleb, suspect that the object emitting it may be a neutron star or white dwarf, but there is a problem: the behavior of the signal. can’t be explained currently the physics used by cosmologists to describe these two objects.

In other words: modern astrophysics cannot explain this phenomenon. This doesn’t mean I won’t do it in the future. With luck, astrophysicists will find the key and understand the nature of the signal. In the meantime, we have no choice but to remain waiting.

Image | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Additional information | Nature Astronomy

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