Scientists got a strange sense of déjà vu when they took a closer look at a mysterious series of bright flashes in a galaxy just 12 million light-years away.
The flashes, known as a frequent fast radio burst (FRB), look surprisingly similar to flashes in the Crab Nebula. The Crab Nebula is a remnant of an ancient starburst, or Supernova, observed by humans in 1054 AD, and recorded by several distinct cultures. The colorful remains showed bright, brilliant flashes very similar to the newly discovered FRBs, which occurred in the galaxy M81, the researchers said.
“Some of the signals we measured are very short and strong, just like some of the signals from the Cancer pulsar,” Kinsey Nemo, Ph.D. Student in astronomy at the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy and the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, He said in a statement.
The explosion was in what is now the Crab Nebula registered On July 4, 1054 by Chinese astronomers, who saw a new or “guest” star over the southern horn of Taurus. Astronomers recorded that the “Guest” shone in the sky for 23 days and was 6 times brighter than Venus. It remained visible for about two years after the explosion, and was also recorded by Arab and Japanese astronomers.
The rest was better visible with a telescope, meaning that the remaining nebula was first observed only in 1731 by British astronomer John Bevis. French astronomer Charles Messier He observed it independently 27 years later and added it to his now-popular catalog of Messier objects, describing the nebula as Messier 1 or M1.
And it wasn’t until the 1960s when astronomers noticed an oscillation in the radio source that coincided with the location of the Crab Nebula, that they eventually determined that the signal came from pulsara type of neutron star (itself a super-dense stellar body left behind by a supernova) with a strong magnetic field.
But despite the known cause of the Crab Nebula’s eruptions and their similarities to those seen in M81, astronomers aren’t yet sure what’s happening in M81. These FRBs were first observed in January 2020, coming from the direction of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Dipper.
So far, FRBs have been found mostly in young star-studded galaxies, but the M81 sightings are an exception, since a network of dozens of radio dishes very clearly identified the source of the signal for an ancient group of stars known as a globular cluster. .
One candidate to explain FRBs is that these bright flashes come from magnetism The most powerful magnet in the universe and another type of supernova remnant. This explanation makes sense in places where young stars are common, the researchers said, but it’s more challenging when it comes to M81.
“We expect magnetic stars to be bright and new, certainly not surrounded by old stars,” Jason Hessels, of the University of Amsterdam and Astron, said in the statement. “If what we’re looking at here is really a magnetar, it couldn’t have formed from the explosion of a young star. There has to be another way.”
One possible explanation may be that the file white dwarf (Cooling core of a large burning star) It draws gas from an unlucky neighboring star. Researchers believe that over time, the extra mass may have caused the white dwarf to collapse into a magnetar.
Finally, although scientists aren’t sure why the signal is or why it’s similar to that emanating from the Crab Nebula, they suspect the answer is something unusual — whether it’s an unusual magnetar, an unusual pulsar, or another celestial phenomenon.
The research was published in two papers on Wednesday (February 23): one in natural astronomy Led by Nemo and the other in nature It was led by Franz Kirsten, of Chalmers University of Technology and the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy.
“Beer fan. Travel specialist. Amateur alcohol scholar. Bacon trailblazer. Music fanatic.”
Wanasayansi walipata hisia ya ajabu ya déjà vu walipoangalia kwa karibu mfululizo wa milipuko ya kichawi katika galaksi iliyo umbali wa miaka milioni 12 tu ya mwanga. Mlipuko huo unaitwa Frequent Fast Radio Burst (FRB) na unaonekana kama ule wa Crab Nebula. Nebula ya Crab ni mabaki ya nyota ya kale, au Supernova, iliyoonekana na wanadamu mnamo 1054 KK, na kurekodiwa na tamaduni kadhaa tofauti. "Kama ilivyoelezwa, ""vitu hivyo vilivyoachwa vilionyesha miale ya mwangaza na mwangaza wa ajabu, sawa na ile ya FRBs zilizogunduliwa hivi karibuni, ambazo zilitokea katika galaksi ya M81.""" "Signali hizo ni fupi na zenye nguvu sana, kama zile kutoka kwa pulsar ya saratani,"" alisema Kinsey Nemo, mwanafunzi wa elimu ya nyota katika Taasisi ya Uholanzi ya Radio Astronomy na Chuo Kikuu cha Amsterdam." Mlipuko huo ulianza mnamo Julai 4, 1054 na wataalamu wa nyota wa China waliotazama nyota mpya ya Taurus. "Wanaastronomia waliandika kwamba ""Mgeni"" aliangaza angani kwa siku 23 na alikuwa na mwangaza mara sita kuliko wa Venus." Ilibaki kuonekana kwa miaka miwili hivi baada ya mlipuko huo, na pia ilirekodiwa na wataalamu wa nyota wa Kiarabu na Kijapani. Kwa kuwa sehemu iliyobaki ya nebula hiyo ilionekana kwa njia ya darubini, ilionekana kwa mara ya kwanza mwaka wa 1731 na John Bevis, mtaalamu wa nyota wa Uingereza. Charles Messier, mtaalamu wa nyota wa Ufaransa, aliona nyota hiyo miaka 27 baadaye na kuiongeza kwenye orodha yake maarufu ya vitu vya Messier, akiiita Messier 1 au M1. Katika miaka ya 1960, wataalamu wa nyota walipoona mwendo wa mawimbi ya redio katika eneo la Crab Nebula, waliamua kwamba ishara hiyo ilitoka kwa nyota ya neutron ya aina ya pulsar (nayo yenyewe ni nyota yenye mwinuko mkubwa sana iliyobaki baada ya supernova). Hata hivyo, licha ya sababu inayojulikana ya milipuko ya Crab Nebula na kufanana kwao na yale yaliyoonekana katika M81, wataalamu wa nyota bado hawajui kinachotokea katika M81. Mlipuko huo uligunduliwa Januari 2020 katika kundi la nyota la Ursa Major. "Hata hivyo, ""FRBs"" zimepatikana hasa katika nyota vijana, lakini M81 ni tofauti, kwa kuwa mtandao wa vyombo vya redio kadhaa waziwazi kutambuliwa chanzo cha ishara kwa kundi la kale la nyota inayojulikana kama ""mkusanyiko globular.""" . "Mmoja wa wagombea wa kuelezea FRBs ni kwamba flashes hizi mkali kuja kutoka sumaku, ""magnetic nguvu zaidi katika ulimwengu"" na aina nyingine ya mabaki ya supernova." "Ufafanuzi huu una maana katika maeneo ambapo nyota vijana ni ya kawaida, ""wakali alisema watafiti, lakini ni changamoto zaidi linapokuja M81." "Tunatarajia nyota za sumaku kuwa nyepesi na mpya, hakika hazizungukwa na nyota za zamani, "Jason Hessels, wa Chuo Kikuu cha Amsterdam na Astron, alisema katika taarifa hiyo. <unk>Ikiwa kile tunachoangalia hapa ni kweli magnetar, haiwezi kuwa imeundwa kutoka mlipuko wa nyota mchanga. "Hata hivyo, kuna uwezekano wa kuwa ""kijana mweupe"" (kitu cha baridi cha nyota kubwa inayowaka) huchukua gesi kutoka kwa nyota jirani isiyo na bahati." Watafiti wanaamini kwamba baada ya muda, huenda wingi huo wa ziada ulisababisha nyota hiyo nyeupe ianguke na kuwa nyota ya sumaku. "Hata hivyo, ingawa wanasayansi hawajui kwa nini ishara hiyo ni sawa na ile inayotokana na Crab Nebula, wanashuku jibu ni kitu cha ajabu, iwe ni ""magnetar isiyo ya kawaida, pulsar isiyo ya kawaida, au jambo jingine la angani.""" Utafiti huo ulichapishwa katika karatasi mbili Jumatano (23 Februari): moja katika Astronomy ya Asili iliyoongozwa na Nemo na nyingine katika Asili iliyoongozwa na Franz Kirsten, wa Chuo Kikuu cha Teknolojia cha Chalmers na Taasisi ya Uholanzi ya Radio Astronomy. <unk>Mshabiki wa bia. Mtaalamu wa kusafiri. Mtaalamu wa pombe wa amateur. Bacon trailblazer. (Mchele wa Bacon) Muziki fanatic. <unk>