Named the cause of a mysterious alien signal
Astronomers from the University of Toronto found that the pulsar B1957+20, known Black Widow, emits radiation the frequency of which resemble repetitive fast radio bursts at the object of FRB 121102.
The nature of the latter is unknown, but there are versions that the radiation can emit merging with each other of the neutron star, supernova, or even an alien civilization. Article scientists published in the journal Nature.
Quick radar pulse lasts for several milliseconds and emits into space is a huge energy — what the Sun emits within a few tens of thousands of years.
A number of scientists believed that such bursts may result from catastrophic events, such as celebrity deaths.
However, some of the impulses are repeated over time. So, the source of FRB 121102, which is thought to be a neutron star, signaled in 2012 and 2015-2017.
Pulsar B1957+20 is part of a binary system which include a brown dwarf. A neutron star is drawn around the last, making the turnover for 9.2 hours, with the result that eclipses occur periodically, lasting about 20 minutes. The scientists found that the pulsar to gradually destroy your satellite. The object also has powerful magnetic fields that create directed in opposite directions the beams of radiation, also affecting the dwarf. The result is a cloud of plasma, which distorts the light from a pulsar, acting as a lens.
Such conditions have allowed astronomers to study in detail the spectrum of B1957+20. It turned out that the pulsar emits radio waves that are distorted by a lens in such a way that begin to resemble fast radio bursts observed in FRB 121102.
This confirms the theory that the “alien signals” are actually a result of the passage of electromagnetic radiation through the cloud of hot plasma in galaxies.