Researchers from Russia have recorded a powerful radio signal at a frequency of 111 MHz, which is believed to be the fastest radio burst to date. It lasted 211 milliseconds. The dispersion measure is about 134.4 pc/cm3. The peak flux intensity is 20 Jansky.
The significant dispersion measure of the pulse indicates its extragalactic origin and corresponds to a brightness observed at a distance of approximately 2.3 billion light-years.
The discovery was made by a group of astronomers led by Sergei Tyulbashev from the Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory in Russia. The characteristics of the pulse suggest that it is one of the most intense and fastest radio bursts, which astronomers have named FRB 20190203.
Bursts of radio emission that last only fractions of a second but are highly intense are called fast radio bursts (FRBs). They exhibit a characteristic dispersion sweep of radio pulsars.
Scientists cannot yet accurately determine what causes these bursts. There are several hypotheses that attempt to explain their origin. Among them:
- radiation resulting from the interaction of particles with the magnetic fields of young magnetars in supernova remnants;
- cusps of cosmic strings.
Regarding the origin of FRB 20190203, researchers suggest that the source of the signal could be synchrotron maser emission.
The maser effect is the increase in the power of radio waves that pass through space, due to the fact that excited molecules of the medium begin to emit photons that resonate with the radiation.
Earlier, www1.ru reported that domestic engineers have developed an apparatus for communication between satellites and Earth. The weight of the device does not exceed 15 kilograms, so it can fit even on small satellites. The device provides the transfer of information from the spacecraft, which collects data, at a speed of 600 to 1750 Mbit/s.
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