Not Alone? Four “Mysterious Signals” Captured From Outer Space
A team of scientists headed by Shivani Bhandari, an astronomer with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia’s federal agency responsible for scientific research, has made a breakthrough discovery by pinpointing the precise location of four fast radio bursts (FRBs).
FRBs are very mysterious bursts of radio waves coming from somewhere in the universe. The average pulse ranges for a few milliseconds, caused by high-energy sources, which are not entirely understood.
CSIRO’s ASKAP radio telescope in Western Australia detecting FRBs. h/t CSIRO
Bhandari’s new research, published on June 1 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, reveals that four FRBs came from massive galaxies forming new stars. They said FRBs originated not from the center of galaxies, but rather from the outer edges.
“These precisely localized fast radio bursts came from the outskirts of their home galaxies, removing the possibility that they have anything to do with supermassive black holes,” said Bhandari.
Bhandari’s team found exact locations for FRB 180924, FRB 181112, FRB 190102, and FRB 190608 by using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope in Western Australia.
Source of FRBs. h/t CSIRO
Bhandari said, “This first detailed study of the galaxies that host fast radio bursts rules out several of the more extreme theories put forward to explain their origins, getting us closer to knowing their true nature.”
Co-author of the study, CSIRO Professor Elaine Sadler said FRBs could not have come from a superluminous stellar explosion or cosmic strings.
“Models such as mergers of compact objects like white dwarfs or neutron stars, or flares from magnetars created by such mergers, are still looking good,” Sadler said.
Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, an astrophysicist from Northern Ireland who co-discovered FRBs, said:
“Positioning the sources of fast radio bursts is a huge technical achievement and moves the field on enormously. We may not yet be clear exactly what is going on, but now, at last, options are being ruled out. This is a highly significant paper, thoroughly researched, and well written,” said Burnell.
According to another paper (dated February 3) by a team of astrophysicists in Canada, a “mystery radio signal” was recorded as repeating based on a clearly discernible pattern. “The discovery of a 16.35-day periodicity in a repeating FRB source is an important clue to the nature of this object,” the team said. A summary of some of the key findings are as follows:
“Between September 16, 2018 and October 30, 2019, detected a pattern in bursts occurring every 16.35 days. Over the course of four days, the signal would release a burst or two each hour. Then, it would go silent for another 12 days.
“…The signal is a known repeating fast radio burst, FRB 180916.J0158+65. Last year, the CHIME/FRB collaboration detected the sources of eight new repeating fast radio bursts, including this signal. The repeating signal was traced to a massive spiral galaxy around 500 million light-years away.”
Both findings suggest astronomers are one step closer to understanding the source of these mysterious radio signals coming from deep within the universe. Could this mean we’re not alone?
Astronomers have detected an “activity cycle” behind massive radio pulses emanating from a galaxy billions of light-years away, shedding light on one of the great cosmic mysteries, which some suggest could be a sign of alien life.
Known as fast radio bursts (FRBs), the flashes of emissions were first noticed in 2007 and appear to originate from galaxies light-years away from Earth, but exactly what causes them still has scientists scratching their heads. The bursts are immensely powerful, giving off as much energy in the space of a few milliseconds as Earth’s sun does in a whole century.
While more than 100 FRBs have been observed since their discovery, most of them have been a one-off phenomenon, giving off only a single burst. But more recently, scientists have found that a small number of FRBs repeat, noticing regular patterns or “activity cycles” behind the enigmatic flashes
One repeating burst – FRB 121102, emitting from a small dwarf galaxy about three billion light-years away from Earth – was watched for some five years by researchers at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in England, revealing a 157-day pattern. The burst appears to flare up for 90 days, only to die down for another 67 before repeating again, according to the findings, which were recently published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society journal.
Though the researchers still can’t say what’s behind the cyclic activity, a number of explanations have been put forward, some suggesting the pulses are caused by the ‘wobble’ of a rotating magnetar – or a highly magnetized neutron star – while others posit they are linked to the orbital motions of a binary star system.
Lacking a definitive natural explanation for the mystery bursts, in 2017 researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics decided to explore unnatural causes, conducting a study theorizing that a massive solar-powered alien radio transmitter may be sending off the bursts in order to power “interstellar light sails.” They found that such a feat would be technically possible, but would require a solar panel with an area twice the size of Earth, putting it far beyond mankind’s current abilities. Though the scientists acknowledged the work was highly speculative, they nonetheless said it was “worth contemplating” an “artificial origin” for the radio bursts, which continue to baffle astronomers.
Could it be that the answer to whether or not we’re alone in the universe resides deep within each of us, encoded into our DNA, just waiting to be revealed?
It’s a heady subject, one that has fascinated mankind for centuries and even led us to build spaceships to explore the skies beyond our vision.
But what if aliens have come and gone already? Imagine if they did indeed visit this planet and left clues of their presence into what makes each of us unique, waiting for the day that we will finally realize the true origin of the human race.
Are we the product of evolution, or were we created by unseen beings? (Via YouTube)
All of this may sound a bit far-fetched and way outside the normal channels of scientific discourse, but as Ancient Origins notes, some very distinguished minds in the world of science think there could well be a connection between human DNA and aliens:
“In 2013, two scientists affiliated with the Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute in Kazakhstan published an article in the journal Icarus suggesting that the search for extraterrestrial life should be expanded to include a survey of human DNA.
“Physicist Vladimir Sherbak and astrobiologist Maxim Makukov are convinced we’ve been genetically engineered by beings from another star system. These founders may have done so directly while visiting here hundreds of millions of years ago. Or, they may have sent an information-packed signal into space that reached Earth and somehow triggered alterations in our DNA. Or, they may have seeded our planet from space with alien genetic material that evolved elsewhere (presumably on their planet of origin).”
Codes and symbols are all around us. Could they have a deeper meaning that is tied to our DNA? (Via YouTube)
The idea that we (and our DNA) are products of alien engineering is known as panspermia, and has drawn the enthusiastic support of none other than James Crick, co-founder of the DNA double helix. In the panspermia view of our planet, our creators intentionally chose to place their own DNA inside of humans and then leave us on the Earth as some sort of experiment.
“Makukov and Cherbak say human DNA looks as though it has been created with mathematical precision. ‘Simple arrangements of the code reveal an ensemble of arithmetical and ideographical patterns of symbolic language. Furthermore, it includes the use of decimal notation and logical transformations that are accurate and systematic.’”
Consider that there’s also a repeating numerical pattern in human DNA:
“Makukov and Cherbak have spotted a specific repeating numerical pattern in the human genetic code. By looking closely at the various mathematical ratios, fractions and constants that show up in calculations and measurements of human DNA, they’ve uncovered multiple instances where the number ‘37’ seems to play a prominent role.”
“In their Icarus research paper, the scientists listed nine instances where the number ‘37’ could be derived by performing calculations somehow related to DNA’s chemical structure, and they calculated the odds of that happening by random at 10 trillion to one against.”
The concept of panspermia suggests that we were created by aliens and encoded with their DNA. (Via YouTube)
The number 37 has relevance when it comes to the human body:
“Expressed in the metric system, the normal body temperature of a human being is 37 degrees Celsius . And according to the latest estimates, there are approximately 37 trillion cells in the human body . So even outside its inclusion in our DNA, the number ‘37’ does help define who we are in some fundamental ways. This is just as we might expect, if that number were included in DNA as a sign.”
Clearly, there are still more questions than answers when it comes to either DNA or aliens, let alone whether a connection can be made between the two. The human genome has already been partially decoded by scientists, and yet we are no closer to proving that intelligent life exists beyond our planet.
Mysteries remain, and in time we may finally discover the answers to them. Until then, all we can do is keep searching.
The “Ancient Aliens” TV show has dealt with the idea of DNA and aliens. Here’s an excerpt from that episode:
This shocking footage is causing quite a stir online.
Some have already branded the clip definitive PROOF of alien lifeforms.
The video – which is reportedly shot from the International Space Station – shows three unidentified flying objects blast out of Earth’s atmosphere.
The lights leave our planet seconds before the live video feed is cut by NASA due to a reported “loss of signal”.
Live streams from the International Space Station have triggered hundreds of viral videos claiming to show proof of alien crafts.
Critics claim the alleged UFO sightings on the live feed are simply down to NASA’s poor camera and this latest sighting is, according to the same critics, likely to be a ‘distorted view of the Moon’.
