Six more radio signals from deep
space deepen mystery …
A total of 17 such radio signals —
called fast radio bursts (FRBs) — have been received from this location in
space since their discovery in 2007.

Scientists have discovered six more
bursts of radio signals coming from a place in deep space outside our galaxy
from where similar signals were detected earlier this year and in 2012.
A total of 17 such radio signals have
been received from this location in space, and given their nature, speculation
has already begun on whether we are being hailed by extra-terrestrial life
forms.
The signals — detected at the Green
Bank Telescope in the US and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, according
to an article in the Astrophysical Journal — are described as Fast Radio Bursts
(FRBs). Discovered only in 2007, FRBs are really fast radio signals that last
for only a few milliseconds, and can be detected only with special equipment.
What’s also special about these FRBs
is that even though they exist for such small duration, they tend to generate
so much energy that it could parallel the amount of energy generated by the Sun
for a whole day!
It is this aspect of the signals — as
well as the fact that now a total of 17 such signals have been detected so far
from the same region in deep space well beyond our galaxy — that is leading to
speculation that there may be a sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial
civilization behind them.
KARDASHEV SCALE
The technological expertise of
civilizations is often determined by the Kardashev scale, named after the
Russian scientist who proposed it in 1964. It proposes that there are three
kinds of civilizations across the universe: Type I, which utilizes only that
much energy which reaches it from its nearest star; Type II, which has
harnessed entire energy of its nearest star for use across various planets; and
Type III, which has harnessed the energy of stars across its entire galaxy.
Given the nature of the
newly-received FRBs — specifically their energy — it is being speculated that
if their source is artificial, they could have been sent by at least a Type-II
extraterrestrial civilization as a means to reach out to other, similarly
intelligent civilizations. That is because the amount of energy in these FRBs
cannot be produced by any conventional means known to man, but could be emitted
by an artificial source from a civilization that has harnessed the power of an
entire star.
REPEATING NATURE AN ENIGMA
What has bolstered the belief that we
are being hailed by aliens is the repeating nature of these FRBs that are being
received from well beyond our own galaxy, the Milky Way. It had been believed
so far that FRBs are caused by the collision of two neutron stars that result
in black holes.
However, that would mean that FRBs
would be unpredictable, and be detected only one or two at a time. The
recently-detected ones came six at a time, putting a big question mark on their
origin. Although the alternate explanation now is that the FRBs are coming from
a single neutron star, rotating with power so great that it is emitting FRBs.
Source: sciencealert.com