Buckle up because NASA just stumbled upon something seriously wild—an unexpected and totally unexplained signal from beyond our cosy Milky Way. It’s got scientists scratching their heads, but also very intrigued by this brand-new discovery. NASA’s Deep Space Network, the brains behind communicating with faraway spacecraft, picked up this mysterious signal that’s not playing by the rules.
This unexpected and mysterious signal from outside our galaxy was discovered by scientists, while they were searching for something else. They were reviewing 13 years’ worth of data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope when they discovered the enigmatic anomaly.
Francis Reddy of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre described it as “an unexpected and as yet unexplained feature outside of our galaxy”.
Gamma rays, which are enormous bursts of intense light thousands to hundreds of billions of times as large as our eyes can see, can be detected by the powerful telescope. Frequently, they are produced after nuclear explosions or stellar explosions. Searching for something completely different, they hopped onto the other signal.
The signal seemed to be associated with another unidentified gamma-ray source that faced the same direction and had almost the same amplitude. Searching for a gamma-ray feature associated with the cosmic microwave background, or CMB, the radiation remaining from the beginning of the universe, the researchers discovered a new item.
More on the cosmic microwave background
The CMB is structured to be cooler with fewer microwaves in the direction opposite the constellation Leo, and hotter and busier in the direction towards which it was pointed decades ago. To correctly perceive fluctuations in the CMB, that signal needs to be eliminated, which is why scientists are interested in learning more about that structure.
Researchers sought to determine whether gamma rays exhibited the same “dipole” structure. They achieved this by utilising a NASA space telescope, which surveys the whole sky in a 24-hour period. That kind of dipole structure was discovered. However, it was located in a completely different area—in the southern sky, distant from the CMBs.
Are the two phenomena linked?
The direction of the newly detected dipole is also the same as that of the dipole present in ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, or UHECRs. Their respective magnitudes are comparable.
Scientists believe there is likely a connection between the two phenomena. Their comparable structure can probably be attributed to their shared origins. Researchers are hoping to identify that source or develop a novel theory explaining the existence of the two traits.
Presenting the results to the American Astronomical Society, cosmologist Alexander Kashlinsky of the University of Maryland and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre remarked: “It is a completely serendipitous discovery.”
“We found a much stronger signal, and in a different part of the sky than the one we were looking for.” Chris Shrader, an astronomer at Goddard went on to state that they identified a gamma-ray dipole, but its peak is located in the southern sky, distant from the CMB’s, and its magnitude is 10 times bigger than what we would predict given our motion.
The Astrophysical Journal Letters published a study titled “Probing the Dipole of the Diffuse Gamma-Ray Background” that details the findings. They believe the finding may be connected to a cosmic gamma-ray signature that was seen in 2017 at the Argentine Pierre Auger Observatory.
Their goal is to track out the enigmatic origin or come up with some other explanation for these two characteristics. Astronomers may be able to validate or refute theories on the formation of the dipole structure with NASA’s surprising discovery.
According to Fernando Atrio-Barandela, a coauthor of the research report, “a disagreement with the size and direction of the CMB dipole could provide us with a glimpse into physical processes operating in the very early universe, potentially back to when it was less than a trillionth of a second old”.
Reaching social media
People worldwide are going bonkers about it. Social media is blowing up with hashtags like #CosmicEnigma and #AlienSignal. It’s like we’re all collectively staring into the night sky, wondering if someone out there is waving back at us.
In the coming weeks and months, astronomers and astrophysicists will undoubtedly work tirelessly to get behind the secrets of this unexplained signal, pushing the boundaries of our understanding of the universe. Whether it’s a natural cosmic phenomenon or a sign of intelligent life beyond our solar system, the discovery marks a significant milestone in humanity’s quest to explore the cosmos and unravel the mysteries of the universe.
(Tashia Bernardus)