Fast Radio Burst Mysteriously Repeats in a Strict Pattern

Fast Radio Bursts had always been a source of curiosity for astronomers. Some have speculated that these phenomenons are proof that advanced civilizations from other planets are trying to contact Earthlings. The theory is still plausible, however.

According to ScienceAlert.com, the space signal known as FRB 20180916B amazes scientists due to the fact that it’s repeating with a 16.35-day periodicity. Astronomers have deployed new radio observations to uncover the mystery.

Interactions between binary stars were believed to cause the FRB

The strict pattern of FRB 20180916B was initially believed to be caused by binary stars, but meanwhile, the idea has been ruled out.

Inés Pastor-Marazuela, an astrophysicist of the University of Amsterdam and ASTRON in the Netherlands, declared as quoted by ScienceAlert.com:

Strong stellar winds from the companion of the fast radio burst source were expected to let most blue, short-wavelength radio light escape the system. But the redder long-wavelength radio should be blocked more, or even completely,

Existing binary-wind models predicted the bursts should shine only in blue, or at least last much longer there. But we saw two days of bluer radio bursts, followed by three days of redder radio bursts. We rule out the original models now – something else must be going on.

Astronomers are pretty sure that we can’t blame any aliens for causing the periodicity of the fast radio burst. One explanation suggested in 2020 involves a space object such as a pulsar or magnetar.

Pastor-Marazuela also said, as cited by ScienceAlert.com:

An isolated, slowly rotating magnetar best explains the behavior we discovered,

It feels a lot like being a detective – our observations have considerably narrowed down which fast radio burst models can work.

The new research has been published in Nature.