SETI Scientists Report Discovery of More Fast Radio Bursts (scitechdaily.com) 19
Using a "recently refurbished" telescope array, SETI scientists performed 541 hours of additional observations — and found 35 new "Fast Radio Bursts" (or FRBs). SciTechDaily reports:
All 35 FRBs were found in the lower part of the frequency spectrum, each with its unique energy signature. "This work is exciting because it provides both confirmation of known FRB properties and the discovery of some new ones," said the SETI Institute's Dr. Sofia Sheikh, NSF MPS-Ascend Postdoctoral Fellow and lead author. "We're narrowing down the source of FRBs, for example, to extreme objects such as magnetars, but no existing model can explain all of the properties that have been observed so far. It has been wonderful to be part of the first FRB study done with the Allen Telescope Array — this work proves that new telescopes with unique capabilities, like the Allen Telescope Array, can provide a new angle on outstanding mysteries in FRB science."
The detailed findings, recently published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS), showcase the intriguing behaviors of FRBs. These mysterious signals exhibit downward frequency drifting, a connection between their bandwidth and center frequency, and changes in burst duration over time. The team also observed something that had never been reported before: there was a noticeable drop in the center frequency of bursts over the two months of observation, revealing an unexpected cosmic slide-whistle...
No clear pattern was found, highlighting the unpredictability of these celestial phenomena.
SETI says its Allen Telescope Array (or ATA) was custom-built for SETI searches, "thanks to the interest and benevolence of many donors, including technologists Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft) and Nathan Myhrvold (former Chief Technology Officer for Microsoft)." The Allen Telescope Array offers SETI scientists access to an instrument seven days a week, and permits the search of several different targets (usually nearby star systems) simultaneously. This can result in a speed-up of SETI searches by a factor of at least 100.
The detailed findings, recently published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS), showcase the intriguing behaviors of FRBs. These mysterious signals exhibit downward frequency drifting, a connection between their bandwidth and center frequency, and changes in burst duration over time. The team also observed something that had never been reported before: there was a noticeable drop in the center frequency of bursts over the two months of observation, revealing an unexpected cosmic slide-whistle...
No clear pattern was found, highlighting the unpredictability of these celestial phenomena.
SETI says its Allen Telescope Array (or ATA) was custom-built for SETI searches, "thanks to the interest and benevolence of many donors, including technologists Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft) and Nathan Myhrvold (former Chief Technology Officer for Microsoft)." The Allen Telescope Array offers SETI scientists access to an instrument seven days a week, and permits the search of several different targets (usually nearby star systems) simultaneously. This can result in a speed-up of SETI searches by a factor of at least 100.
SETI is highly worthwhile, but wildly unlikely. (Score:5, Interesting)
That there are likely other technological intelligences in the universe (indeed, even this galaxy) should not be considered especially surprising. The cosmos doesn't do "special," in space or time, if the laws of physics that give rise to life are universal.
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However, it's very unlikely to find what it seeks.
I wonder how powerful a "man" made radio signal from a distant star would have to be in order for us to detect it.
Or laser, for that matter, though the would have to aim it right at us.
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Obviously, beyond about 70 LY (approaching a thousand star systems), the signals haven't reached there yet.
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Dit dit dit dah dah dah dit dit dit (Score:2)
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First, you'd have to rule out all credible (a rather flexible criterion) natural sources. Which pretty much demands that the signal be either continuous, or predictably repeating. Which few FRBs are - it was only about 5 years ago that the first repeating FRB sources were identified.
I guess tney're now pretending (Score:2)
That well-known patent troll Intellectual Ventures doesn't exist and that Nathan Myhrvold's money all comes from his early days at Microsoft.
SETI tool makes news for non-SETI research (Score:2)
The way I interpret this article is that to get time on anything built by SETI money, I just need my science target to have a vague scifi connotation. Otherwise I can point it at whatever I want.
Random stars: out; anything vaguely possibly having a habitable zone planet: in.
Unless! I find something with a bunch of hot Jupiters around it. Then I can claim it might be like that planet in Asimov's classic story "Nightfall"
Make sure (Score:3)
Wait til they decode it! (Score:1)
The Owls Are Not What They Seem (Score:2)
Cooper | Cooper | Cooper | Cooper
Liu Cixin (Score:2)
First Contact (Score:1)
And when it's decoded... (Score:2)
...it will be an ad from an alien company for whatsis, available at your nearest allo-mart.
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Nathan Myhrvold is an asshole (Score:2)
Honest
Plots, kudos! (Score:1)
That's cool how they show the time/frequency plot of the signals in TFA, and you can zoom by clicking (to a degree).
If they were digital messages, do they have a strong enough signal to reconstruct the bits?