Researchers finally found the source of the cosmic radio waves repeatedly detected on Earth, triggering claims of alien life in outer space. The so-called alien signals were pinpointed to be coming from a dwarf galaxy which is three billion light years away from Earth.
The fast radio bursts were first detected in 2001. The signals sound very random that it took years for the astronomers to agree that it was not a technological glitch. Repeating radio signals were detected through the years and the frequency of the signals led to speculations of possible alien life trying to contact Earth.
A team of researchers form the University of California and Cornell University monitored the alien signals using the Karl Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico and the Arecibo radio dish in Puerto Rico. The radio bursts appear very randomly and temporarily (it lasts for only a few milliseconds), making it hard to find and to study.
"For a long time, we came up empty, then got a string of bursts that gave us exactly what we needed," Casey Law from the University of California said cited Mail Online. The researchers were able to detect nine bursts over a month last year, which they used to pinpoint its location in the sky.
The team used deep imaging in the area they located and found a faint dwarf galaxy emitting low-level radio waves. They added that a powerful neutron star called a magnetar could have formed in the said galaxy, which was more than three billion light years from Earth. Magnetars could have enough energy to emit huge solar flares.
"We are the first to show that this is a cosmological phenomenon... which I think is a surprise," Dr Casey Law told The Telegraph. He added that their new objective is to figure out why it happens, which might prove to be a great advancement in the search for alien life in space.
