Scientists crack origin of mysterious signal from another galaxy 12m light years away

Scientists believe they have figured out the origin of mysterious deep space signals from 12 million light years away.

The team of astronomers has been analysing a series of bright flashes, known as fast radio bursts, which were first spotted in January 2020.

These flashes are unpredictable and extremely short, lasting thousandths of a second, but each one sends out as much energy as the sun gives out in a day.

In a new report, the team revealed these fast radio bursts were traced to the galaxy M81, which is around 12 million light years away, and that is the closest source ever detected.

The astronomers also discovered that these bursts are incredibly similar to ones seen in the Crab Nebular, which is a remnant of a supernova explosion that was seen from Earth in 1054 AD and recorded by cultures around the world.

A team of astronomers has been analysing a series of bright flashes, known as fast radio bursts, which were first spotted in January 2020. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

They have concluded that fast radio bursts can be created by Magnetars - extremely dense remnants of stars that have exploded.

Jason Hessels, from the University of Amsterdam, said magnetars are the universe’s most powerful known magnets which are “definitely not surrounded by old stars”.

He added: “If what we’re looking at here really is a magnetar, then it can’t have been formed from a young star exploding. There has to be another way”.

The astronomers believe the magnetar which caused the flashes in M18 may have been caused by a white dwarf (remnants of a long-dead burnt out star) which became massive enough to collapse under its own weight.

Franz Kirsten, who led the team of astronomers, said: “Strange things happen in the multi-billion-year life of a tight cluster of stars. Here we think we’re seeing a star with an unusual story.”

He added: “We wanted to look for clues to the bursts’ origins.

“Using many radio telescopes together, we knew we could pinpoint the source’s location in the sky with extreme precision. That gives the opportunity to see what the local neighbourhood of a fast radio burst looks like.

“These fast radio bursts seem to be giving us new and unexpected insight into how stars live and die. If that’s true, they could, like supernovae, have things to tell us about stars and their lives across the whole universe.”