(TNND) — Astronomers have discovered fast-repeating radio signals coming from a distant “dead” galaxy.
This is an unusual find since “dead” galaxies are not expected to have the energy needed to produce these signals, according to ABC News reporting.
These signals called fast radio bursts (FRBs), are quick flashes of radio waves lasting only milliseconds. ABC News states that scientists usually think FRBs come from young, highly energetic neutron stars. But the galaxy these signals are coming from is old and inactive, making the discovery puzzling. The findings were published Wednesday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
FRBs typically come from galaxies with lots of new star formation, explained Vishwangi Shah, a PhD student at McGill University in an interview with ABC News. However, these unusual FRB signals appear to come from outside of a massive, ancient elliptical galaxy filled only with old stars, Shah said during the interview.
ABC News reports that Shah and her team detected the signals using the CHIME (Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment) telescope, but since it could not determine the exact source, they combined it with another smaller telescope. To confirm their findings, they used the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii to take a closer look. The Gemini images showed no other galaxies near the FRB’s location, confirming it came from the dead galaxy.
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