It has been classified as a fast radio burst (FRB), but where such signals are usually intensely strong emissions of radio waves of unknown origin – usually lasting a few milliseconds at most – this is different. The new signal — which appears to flash in a pattern similar to a beating heart — runs for up to three seconds, about 1,000 times longer than an average FRB. News of the discovery comes in the same week that incredible images of a dying star and a ‘cosmic dance’ were revealed in a stunning set of NASA photographs. The team detected bursts of radio waves repeating every 0.2 seconds within this window, in a clear periodic pattern. Researchers say there are very few things in the universe known to emit these strictly periodic signals. Daniele Michilli, a postdoctoral researcher at the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), explained: “Examples we know in our own galaxy are radio pulsars and magnetars, which rotate and produce a beacon-like beam emission. “And we think this new signal could be a magnet or pulsar on steroids.” Read more: Joe Biden discusses NASA’s stunning new images taken with the James Webb Space Telescope Two exciting photos of gas giant Jupiter leaked Analysis: Why is the first picture from the world’s most advanced telescope such a big deal? Radio pulsars and magnetars are types of neutron stars – extremely dense, rapidly rotating collapsed cores of giant stars. Called FRB 20191221A, the signal is currently the longest-lived FRB, with the clearest periodic pattern, detected to date. Its source is in a distant galaxy, several billion light-years from Earth. The team hopes to detect more periodic signals from this source, which could then be used as an astrophysical clock.
