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Scientists are using revolutionary technology to capture intriguing signals from deep space.
Astronomy has just taken a big step forward in detecting intergalactic signals. Thanks to a new technology developed by CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization), researchers in Australia have identified more than 20 mysterious signals in space.
The discovery opens up new possibilities for understanding the universe and may offer clues about phenomena not yet explained by cience.
The success of this search has been compared to finding a grain of sand on a vast beach. Key to this discovery was CRACO, a specialized system developed for CSIRO's ASKAP radio telescope.
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CRACO was designed to identify fast radio bursts (FRBs, in the English acronym), one of the greatest mysteries of modern astronomy.
This new system not only detected these bursts, but also improved the accuracy of locating four pulsars and identified two neutron stars.
What are fast radio bursts?
FRBs are intense flashes of radio waves that last just milliseconds but are as bright as an entire galaxy.
Most of these signals come from very distant regions of the universe, and their origin is still a mystery.
Scientists hope the new technology will help answer questions like: What causes these flashes? Are they coming from black holes, magnetized neutron stars or some other unknown source?
How CRACO revolutionizes research
Before the adoption of CRACO, the ASKAP radio telescope used the CRAFT system to identify FRBs, but the new technology has taken this process to a new level.
According to CSIRO astronomer Keith Bannister, CRACO processes 100 billion pixels per second to detect and locate fast radio bursts with unprecedented accuracy.
"That's the equivalent of scouring an entire beach for a single nickel every minute.“, Bannister explained.
Radio astronomer Laura Driessen of the University of Sydney said CRACO allows scientists to monitor the sky in greater detail. Instead of looking at a single point of light, researchers can now scan an entire image of space for changes.
( Provided: Yuanming Wang, The CRAFT Collaboration )
Impact on astronomy
Accurately locating FRBs is essential for advances in cosmology. With CRACO, scientists will be able to determine with greater certainty which galaxies these bursts belong to, enabling new investigations into their origin and nature.
"If we only know the general direction of an FRB, we can't tell which galaxy it came from. But if we can pinpoint its exact position, we can use other techniques to make more detailed measurements.“, said Driessen.
Scientists also hope that this technology will help measure distances in the universe more accurately. Because FRBs travel through the cosmos, passing through various interstellar media, they could be used as tools to study the distribution of matter in the universe.
With the ability to detect bursts 100 times per second and the prospect of increasing that rate to 1.000 times per second, CRACO's advances could revolutionize astronomy.
This could lead to new discoveries about the composition of the universe, the existence of hidden structures and even clues about dark matter.
The system was developed in collaboration between CSIRO and international researchers, and is partly funded by the Australian Research Council.
The expectation is that, in the coming years, this technology will allow the identification of thousands of new intergalactic signals, opening doors to a better understanding of the universe.
With information abc.net.au.
