From a glow-in-the-dark moon to a planet where it rains diamonds, this is the most fascinating space news of 2020.
We are about to close out another striking twelvemonth of scientific uncovering . Indeed , there was a great deal of meaning — and thrilling — space word this year . Some brought world closer to understand outer infinite , while others only intensify the secret of our universe .
allow ’s explore some of the biggest and most nous - bending space news headline from 2020 .
In The Latest Space News, Scientists Identified A Mysterious Radio Signal Emanating From Deep Space
European Southern ObservatoryAstronomers identified a fast receiving set burst ( FRB ) come from deep space that repeats like clockwork .
Of all of the fascinating outer space news stories this yr , one surely stands out : the discovery of a mysterious wireless signaling come from deep space .
In June 2020 , uranologist break that they had captured a cryptic - space tuner signal that was unlike anything researchers had seen before . riotous radio burst , or FRBs like this , are not solely unusual . scientist have detect FRBs in outer blank for years , but the cause of these signals , which total from unidentified sources in galaxies billions of light - yr away , is still unknown .
European Southern ObservatoryAstronomers identified a fast radio burst (FRB) coming from deep space that repeats like clockwork.
What is translate , however , is that they can loose enormous amounts of energy — sometimes as powerful as C of trillion of Sun — which is how the signaling is able to reach our coltsfoot despite being so far , far away .
Typically , FRBs come out only once . But the signal that was studied in June make love asFRB 121102acts differently . It is only the 2d repeating FRB bonk to date , and it was first discover by the Arecibo Observatory telescope in Puerto Rico back in 2012 .
Unlike other FRBs , this one was hear to iterate itself on a specific pattern . In 2016 , astronomer Kaustubh Rajwade at the University of Manchester realized that this specific radio signal flare-up had re-emerge multiple prison term over the eld .
In fact , his squad found that it was reappearing on a consistent cycle that was 157 to 161 days long . This was a breakthrough uncovering in extinct space intelligence .
Since Rajwade ’s revelation , his team has go on to monitor the natural process of FRB 121102 , which has reemerged on their radio detection and ranging like clockwork . research worker have been able-bodied to trace the origins of the rich - space signal back to a dwarf galaxy three billion light - year away .
Some scientist consider that FRBs could merely be the result of a flare out neutron genius called a magnetar , but Rajwade argues that the specific cycle of FRB 121102 demonstrate that FRBs could very well be from something else — perhaps extraterrestrial .
“ find a cyclicity provides an important restraint on the rootage of the burst and the activity cycle could reason against a precessing neutron star , ” Rajwade said .
While there remains much to be discovered about FRB 121102 , it ’s certainly one of the most alluring blank space word stories of the twelvemonth .
