Tau.Neutrino said:
Hidden pattern discovered in repeating radio signal from space
New clues have been uncovered in the mystery of fast radio bursts (FRBs) from space. One of these strange signals has been repeating seemingly at random – but with years of observation, an international study has now found a pattern hidden in the noise, which could help reveal what causes them.
more…
> The team studied 32 bursts detected during a four-year observation run, as well as data from previous studies of the object. They found that all of FRB 121102’s emissions occur within a window of about 90 days, before it falls silent for 67 days. Then, the entire 157-day cycle begins again.
I could probably reproduce that with a random number generator. 32 bursts is nowhere near enough, statistically speaking, to make a conclusion of that sort.
> Earlier this year astronomers discovered a signal called FRB 180916, which repeated like clockwork on a 16-day cycle, flaring up regularly for about four days before falling silent for the next 12.
Now that’s more interesting. What do we know about FRB 180916?
From wikipedia, “discovered in 2018 … within a Milky Way-like galaxy named SDSS J015800.28+654253.0. This places the source at redshift 0.0337, approximately 457 million light-years from the Solar System, significantly nearer than any other FRBs localized to date”.
Technical article on FRB 180916. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2001.02222.pdf
“we detected four bursts from FRB 180916.J0158+65”
Oh, only four. :-(
You can’t do valid statistics on that. Let’s hope that subsequent studies frind more.