Heartbeat-like radio signals detected billions of light years away

A strange burst of radio signals has been detected by astronomers, who believe the signals sound similar to a heartbeat-like pattern, according to a report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) News. The signal also reportedly originated from a far away galaxy billions of light years away from Earth. These kinds of radio signal bursts are called FRBs or Fast Radio Bursts. They usually last for a few milliseconds but in this case, the FRB signal was reported to be about three second long, making them much longer than the usual length; about a thousand times, notes the report.

Researchers at MIT have labelled the signal as FRB 20191221A and believe that the burst comes from a radio pulsar or a magnetar, both types of neutron stars, which are known to have very dense masses in a relatively tightly packed, small core. Although it must be noted that an exact source for the signal has not yet been confirmed.

Heartbeats from a far away galaxy
Reports also noted the unique pattern of the radio signals, which was similar to the rhythm formed by a beating heart, except it repeated every 0.2 seconds (the human heart beats once about every 0.8 seconds).

“There are not many things in the universe that emit strictly periodic signals. Examples that we know of in our own galaxy are radio pulsars and magnetars, which rotate and produce a beamed emission similar to a lighthouse,” Daniele Michilli, a postdoctoral scholar at MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research said in a press statement.

Astronauts are now hoping to spot more similar signals from the source, which could help them understand the nature and cause of the FRB signals better.