An artist’s illustration of the mysterious FRBs. Image: M. Weiss/Center for Astrophysics website
Astronomers revealed last January the existence of a mysterious type of radio waves coming from space. After studying it closely, they are saying that humans might not be alone in the universe after all.
READ: Mystery radio bursts traced to distant galaxy
Identified as fast radio bursts (FRBs), astrophysicists from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and, Manasvi Lingam at Harvard University, are hinting at a possibility that the waves are coming from alien technological origin.
According to Business Insider, scientists Avi Loeb and Manasvi Lingam are currently investigating if the FRBs are indeed the result of an alien propulsion system.
“Fast radio bursts are exceedingly bright, given their short duration and origin at great distances, and we haven’t identified a possible natural source with any confidence,” Loeb was quoted as saying in the report.
“An artificial origin is worth contemplating and checking,” he added.
The scientists claim that a signal that reaches such an enormous distance requires a solar array twice the surface area of Earth. The engineering required to do that would have to be some sort of space craft possessing massive amounts of energy, and could be about about 20 times bigger than our largest cruise ship.
“That’s big enough to carry living passengers across interstellar or even intergalactic distances,” Lingam shared.
Furthermore, the two also shared a theory regarding the unusual waves.
“Earth is rotating and orbiting, which means the alien star and galaxy are moving relative to us. That’s why we would only see a brief flash,” Loeb shared. “The beam sweeps across the sky and only hits us for a moment. The repeated appearance of the FRB could be a clue to its alien, technological origin.”
However, the group said that the study is merely speculative, and there’s no hard evidence regarding the existence of such origin as of the moment.
“Although the possibility that FRBs are produced by extragalactic civilizations is more speculative than an astrophysical origin, quantifying the requirements necessary for an artificial origin serves, at the very least, the important purpose of enabling astronomers to rule it out with future data,” the pair said in the conclusion of their study. Khristian Ibarrola/JB
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