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Is this ET? Mystery of strange radio bursts from space
www.newscientist.com ^ | 04-01-2015 | Staff

Posted on 04/01/2015 11:33:55 AM PDT by Red Badger

Mysterious radio wave flashes from far outside the galaxy are proving tough for astronomers to explain. Is it pulsars? A spy satellite? Or an alien message?

BURSTS of radio waves flashing across the sky seem to follow a mathematical pattern. If the pattern is real, either some strange celestial physics is going on, or the bursts are artificial, produced by human – or alien – technology.

Telescopes have been picking up so-called fast radio bursts (FRBs) since 2001. They last just a few milliseconds and erupt with about as much energy as the sun releases in a month. Ten have been detected so far, most recently in 2014, when the Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia, caught a burst in action for the first time. The others were found by sifting through data after the bursts had arrived at Earth. No one knows what causes them, but the brevity of the bursts means their source has to be small – hundreds of kilometres across at most – so they can't be from ordinary stars. And they seem to come from far outside the galaxy.

The weird part is that they all fit a pattern that doesn't match what we know about cosmic physics.

To calculate how far the bursts have come, astronomers use a concept called the dispersion measure. Each burst covers a range of radio frequencies, as if the whole FM band were playing the same song. But electrons in space scatter and delay the radiation, so that higher frequency waves make it across space faster than lower frequency waves. The more space the signal crosses, the bigger the difference, or dispersion measure, between the arrival time of high and low frequencies – and the further the signal has traveled.

(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Education; Outdoors; Science
KEYWORDS: alens; astronomy; et; frb; seti; space; wowsignal
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1 posted on 04/01/2015 11:33:55 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: SunkenCiv; KevinDavis

Ping!.............


2 posted on 04/01/2015 11:34:21 AM PDT by Red Badger (Man builds a ship in a bottle. God builds a universe in the palm of His hand.............)
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To: Red Badger

3 posted on 04/01/2015 11:36:15 AM PDT by Red Badger (Man builds a ship in a bottle. God builds a universe in the palm of His hand.............)
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To: Red Badger

They are calling for Obama, Hillary and all the libs to come join them.

4 posted on 04/01/2015 11:38:39 AM PDT by Slyfox (I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever)
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To: Red Badger

187.5 is Pi on Ursala Minor 7.


5 posted on 04/01/2015 11:44:54 AM PDT by Resettozero
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To: Red Badger

6 posted on 04/01/2015 11:47:28 AM PDT by frithguild (The warmth and goodness of Gaia is a nuclear reactor in the Earth's core that burns Thorium)
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To: frithguild

7 posted on 04/01/2015 11:53:39 AM PDT by frithguild (The warmth and goodness of Gaia is a nuclear reactor in the Earth's core that burns Thorium)
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To: Slyfox

LOL


8 posted on 04/01/2015 11:55:36 AM PDT by WKUHilltopper (And yet...we continue to tolerate this crap...)
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To: frithguild

The movie was made by people who had not read the book......................


9 posted on 04/01/2015 12:01:46 PM PDT by Red Badger (Man builds a ship in a bottle. God builds a universe in the palm of His hand.............)
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To: Red Badger

200 - 187.5 = 12.5 / 200 = 62.5% Variable of 0.83 to plus side equals 13.33 / 200 = 66.6% - 66.7%???


10 posted on 04/01/2015 12:01:47 PM PDT by no-to-illegals (Scrutinize our government and Secure the Blessing of Freedom and Justice)
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To: Resettozero

11 posted on 04/01/2015 12:03:14 PM PDT by Red Badger (Man builds a ship in a bottle. God builds a universe in the palm of His hand.............)
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To: Red Badger

error ... 6.66% - 6.67%


12 posted on 04/01/2015 12:04:53 PM PDT by no-to-illegals (Scrutinize our government and Secure the Blessing of Freedom and Justice)
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To: Resettozero

Ummmmmmm Pi!


13 posted on 04/01/2015 12:07:23 PM PDT by Conan the Librarian (The Best in Life is to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and the Dewey Decimal System)
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To: no-to-illegals

Explain for us dummies...lol


14 posted on 04/01/2015 12:17:39 PM PDT by Dog (..."I'm just a cook...")
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To: Red Badger
they seem to come from far outside the galaxy.

Good

The farther away the better.

15 posted on 04/01/2015 12:19:48 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: Dog

come on Dog ... I just being dumb(y) too ... lol


16 posted on 04/01/2015 12:20:04 PM PDT by no-to-illegals (Scrutinize our government and Secure the Blessing of Freedom and Justice)
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To: Red Badger

Wrong.

That’s Ursula Undress Major.


17 posted on 04/01/2015 12:20:46 PM PDT by Resettozero
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To: Conan the Librarian

Extra yummy LARGER Pi.


18 posted on 04/01/2015 12:22:06 PM PDT by Resettozero
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To: Dog

hint ... am guessing and have no idea but think from there they are looking at the past and from here at Earth time suspect is past too.


19 posted on 04/01/2015 12:29:17 PM PDT by no-to-illegals (Scrutinize our government and Secure the Blessing of Freedom and Justice)
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To: no-to-illegals

Did you stay at a Holiday Inn Express?


20 posted on 04/01/2015 12:31:34 PM PDT by Dog (..."I'm just a cook...")
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