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Australian Telescope Captures Alien Cosmic Radio Bursts

Dr. Emily Petroff at the Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia. (photo from her gallery)

Alien cosmic radio bursts of light, aka The Signal, aka Fast Radio Bursts were witnessed in real time on May 15, 2014 by astronomers in Australia.

Dr. Emily Petroff, a Veni Fellow at the University of Amsterdam Anton Pannekoek Institute , caught the mysterious signal as it happened using the Parkes Telescope in New South Wales.

The source of these alien signals is unknown and astronomers have no definitive answers as to what it is. Only eight of these fast radio burst (FRBs) have been recorded in the past and they were all discovered weeks, and sometimes years, after the actual event took place by studying old data—never at the time of the actual occurrence like this latest event.

Background


The first fast radio burst was discovered in 2007,” Petroff told Fox News.

Data gathered by the Parkes Telescope sheds new information on the property of the bursts. The waves appear to be circularly polarized as opposed to linearly polarized, meaning they vibrate in two planes, not one. “It’s something nobody has ever measured before,” Petroff said.

According to Keith Bannister of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, “Nobody knows what to make of it. But, we alien hunters are told not to get our hopes up.

Petroff tells us, “We’re confident that they’re coming from natural sources, that is to say it’s probably not aliens, but we haven’t solved the case completely. The two most promising theories at the moment are that these bursts could be produced either by a star producing a highly energetic flare, or from a neutron star collapsing to make a black hole. Both of these things would be from sources in far-away galaxies just reaching us from billions of light years away.”

Petroff’s Research


The following information is from the website of Emily Petroff  on her research:

In recent radio surveys at Parkes astronomers looking for new pulsars also found a new type of pulsed object since called Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). Fast radio bursts appear as single, bright, very short radio pulses that have never been seen to repeat. The pulses only last for a few milliseconds, similar to the duration of a pulsar pulse, but have properties that lead us to believe that they originate far outside the Milky Way, where normal pulsars cannot be detected.

So what could be the source of FRBs? Many different theories exist as to what causes FRB pulses but none has yet been confirmed. Some believe they are explosions in distant galaxies, or flares caused by distant magnetars, highly magnetic pulsars that emit bursts of powerful radiation. Others believe they originate in our own Galaxy, but from bursty flare stars. I work on several observing campaigns currently trying to answer these questions!

Based on the number of FRBs that have been found in radio surveys so far, we believe that up to 10,000 FRB bursts happen every day! Meaning that if our eyes could see at radio wavelengths, we could look up into the sky and see an FRB twinkle every 10 seconds!

FRBs are a new and exciting mystery object that I work to understand. Collecting data and testing theories is the best way to understand their origins and some of my most recent work focuses on these incredible new sources.

Cool video explaining FRBs.

A Big Picture


NASA released the ultimate NASA Hubble Space Telescope image.
This sweeping bird’s-eye view of a portion of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) is the sharpest image ever taken of our galactic next-door neighbor. Credits: NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams, and L.C. Johnson (University of Washington), the PHAT team, and R. Gendler. (Full Size Image)
Says NASA:
This sweeping bird’s-eye view of a portion of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) is the sharpest large composite image ever taken of our galactic next-door neighbor. Though the galaxy is over 2 million light-years away, The Hubble Space Telescope is powerful enough to resolve individual stars in a 61,000-light-year-long stretch of the galaxy’s pancake-shaped disk. It’s like photographing a beach and resolving individual grains of sand. And there are lots of stars in this sweeping view—over 100 million, with some of them in thousands of star clusters seen embedded in the disk.

This ambitious photographic cartography of the Andromeda galaxy represents a new benchmark for precision studies of large spiral galaxies that dominate the universe’s population of over 100 billion galaxies. Never before have astronomers been able to see individual stars inside an external spiral galaxy over such a large contiguous area. Most of the stars in the universe live inside such majestic star cities, and this is the first data that reveal populations of stars in context to their home galaxy.   
Ray Villard Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.


Below is a video, set to music, of this bird’s-eye view of the Andromeda Galaxy. Be sure to watch until the end. You won’t be sorry. You might go: Oh, Wow! Like I did.

My Response to  NASA’s Big Image


Mighty Big Picture for us Earthlings to assume all that vast unknown is just for us.  Any thoughts? I love hearing from you.

The Probe— probing the unknown in science fiction, science, paranormal, fiction, ghosts, monsters, aliens, space, UFOs, the strange, and the weird. And a little on writing.
Clara Bush
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4 replies on “Australian Telescope Captures Alien Cosmic Radio Bursts”

It is so wild to think that we have so many technological advances today and that we have been listening for so long.. and yet, we are just now beginning to hear.

Hi MoonNymph— so glad to hear from you. I’ve missed you. Your words are always so poetic. Thank you for returning.

I agree, we have so many technological advances and, yet, I think often we see and hear less. I guess we are too busy looking at and hearing our computers, cell phones, and other eDevices to really, really see and hear the world around us.

Note: This paper was originally published for MUFON as part of their Field Investigation training.

Misidentification of Common Celestial and Man-Made Objects
By Tom Arnold

Few would argue that the primary purpose of MUFON is to investigate and document those cases where legitimate UFO sightings have occurred. This work is critical if the true nature of the phenomena is to be discovered. Therefore the more reports we can identify as natural or manmade, the better our data will become. To that end, this article provides a simple guide to astronomical and artificial objects to assist in the elimination of these objects as being true UFOs.

The Atmosphere
Everyone knows that stars twinkle. This picturesque effect is actually distortion caused by the turbulence and thickness of the atmosphere coupled with its moisture content. The amount of twinkle is directly proportional to the amount of distortion, the bane of all astronomers.

If you look closely at the night sky, you will clearly see that the closer to the horizon you look the more the stars appear to twinkle. That is because as you scan the sky from directly over your head down toward the horizon, you will be looking through an ever-increasing amount of atmosphere. To astronomers this is referred to as increasing Air Mass. The highest Air Mass is on the horizon and the lowest is directly over your head, a point known as your Zenith. Therefore, celestial objects will twinkle least at your Zenith and most near the horizon.

This same distortion caused by the atmosphere can be seen on any hot day driving down a long hot road. The road in the distance will appear wavy and distorted as the heat rises from it into the atmosphere, making objects along the road appear to wobble slightly. Moreover, in the early evening when cars have their lights on and the road is still hot, distant vehicle lights can appear to change color slightly.

Acting like a lens, the atmosphere can make distant objects look larger. In addition, it can also make distant objects look smaller. In some specific conditions, you can even see objects below the horizon. Clearly the atmosphere can produce some very unusual effects that can easily create circumstances where objects can be misidentified.

How does this apply to a UFO sighting? If someone were to report an object at considerable distance that appeared to be changing colors or even rotating, it would be prudent to first suspect that a star or planet was seen. The atmospheric distortion can easily cause a distant object to appear to change color and even rotate as we have shown. An object near the horizon where the Air Mass is highest coupled with turbulence and moisture should be our first consideration. Astronomers deal with this problem all the time. It forces them to wait until their object of interest rises high enough in the sky to rise above this distortion near the horizon.

The Planets
Venus
The moon is the brightest object in the night sky, and the planet Venus is the next brightest object. Like the moon, Venus is bright enough that it can even be seen in the daytime at certain times during the year. This makes it an object that could easily be reported as a UFO, especially if it is seen during the daytime.

If someone were to report a daytime sighting of an object that looked like a distant disk which then disappeared, Venus would be my first suspect. This is because seeing a daytime celestial object requires looking in the right place at the right time. If an observer is lucky enough to see a planet during daytime, they may not be able to find it again if they look away. You must be looking right at the object to be able to see it. Moreover, the atmosphere plays a huge role here just as we discussed previously. That means that everything must be right to be able to see a planet in the daytime.

At night Venus can be so bright as to cast a shadow on the ground. Again, coupled with a turbulent atmosphere, seeing a bright object such as Venus might generate many different types of UFO reports. Together with auto kinesis (spontaneous or voluntary movement of the body), your brain creates “movement” in a stationary object set on a black background, like Venus at night. Therefore we have a perfect prescription for a UFO report.

Mercury
Mercury is seen so seldom that most people don’t recognize it when it does appear. Because it is so close to the sun, it will never be very far from it in the sky. This places an observation in either the east in the early morning sky just before sunrise or in the west in the evening sky just before sunset.

The planet will always appear as a red object near the horizon. Because it is near the horizon, we are once again faced with the problems of atmospheric distortion. As a red object possibly changing colors in the distance, Mercury could be easily mistaken for a UFO.

Jupiter and Saturn
After Venus, the next brightest objects in the sky are Jupiter, then Saturn. Either of these could be mistaken as a UFO under the right conditions. Jupiter is bright enough to be seen in the daytime like Venus. Therefore seeing Jupiter has the same potential to generate UFO reports.

Mars
Like Venus, Mars has been provided as the explanation for many UFO reports, probably due to its red appearance. The brightness of the planet varies greatly over time. During close approach, Mars can be very bright indeed rivaling Jupiter.
Planetary Conjunctions
For the sake of completeness, we should also discuss another potential celestial event that might be mistaken as a UFO or UFOs: a planetary conjunction. A conjunction occurs when two or more planets appear to come close together in the sky as seen from Earth. Normally this would be a grouping formed by Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn or any combination of two.

If someone is unfamiliar with the sky and not aware of the location in the sky where such a conjunction could appear, they could easily mistake it for UFOs in formation. Although the planets won’t appear to move across the sky, they do provide an unusual sight in the night sky.

Stars
Sirius
Sirius is the brightest star in the sky. On a clear cold night it can cast a shadow as can Venus. Under the right conditions, it can appear to be a brilliant disk seen in the distance. This is true for many of the brighter stars under the right conditions. Since stars range in color from white to blue to red, and other shades in between, stars can be misidentified as various types of UFOs, especially when atmospheric distortion is also a factor. That is why it is important to know as much about the sky as possible in order to identify natural celestial objects that could be mistaken as UFOs.

Meteors/Bolides and Comets
Meteors and bolides are debris that burn up as they fall into the atmosphere. Bolides are the larger, more brilliant meteors that burn or blow up in a more spectacular manner. Meteors and bolides are both composed of chunks of rock and dust left in the Earth’s orbit by passing comets. Several times during the year we experience meteor showers as the Earth passes through comet debris. At these times we can potentially witness large numbers of these objects streaking across the sky.

On any given night we can see sporadic meteors and bolides which are not associated with any yearly shower. Any of these events have the potential to be bright and spectacular lasting only a few seconds. They have the potential to create sound effects that are most unusual in addition to their awesome visual effects. The sound is usually a hiss as the material burns up. A sonic boom is also possible as the material falls through the atmosphere at supersonic speeds.

The sighting of a bright meteor or brighter Bolide can certainly be reported as a UFO. But for all their brilliance and sound effects, they move in straight lines and last only a few seconds.

Comets are quite a bit different from meteors and bolides. These objects are the very material left over from the creation of the solar system and appear as fuzzy objects in the night sky, sometimes with visible tails that can stretch a great distance across the cosmic dome. Although a comet moves at great speed through the solar system, its movement across the sky can’t be detected visually as you observe the comet over a period of minutes. The motion of a comet through space can only be recognized as it is observed from night to night. The potential for a misclassification of a comet as a UFO is probably small. However we need to be aware of all possibilities.

Satellites and Spacecraft
Probably one of the more frequent types of potentially misidentified UFO sightings are satellites and spacecraft—earthly, not alien! Satellites and spacecraft manifest a continuous motion across the sky in a single direction. They normally appear as star-like objects that can display some unusual characteristics. Clearly larger objects like the International Space Station will appear larger than a single point of moving light.

Here are some of the more common effects that can be seen relative to satellites and spacecraft.

1. An object suddenly brightens in a brilliant burst of light. This is a “flare” caused by the sun reflecting off a solar panel on the object itself as it orbits the Earth.
2. A blinking light moving across the sky. Many older satellites tumble in their orbit after their gyros fail, and as they do, they catch a quick reflection from the sun. This is referred to as a “glint.”
3. A moving star-like object suddenly disappears. This happens when the satellite enters the Earth’s shadow. One second it is clearly visible and the next it is gone.
4. Multiple objects are seen moving together at constant speed and direction. This is often seen when the Space Shuttle is approaching the International Space Station. You will clearly see two large bright objects moving together. Another good example of this would be the Space Shuttle and the Hubble Space Telescope. There will be one more final mission the Hubble this fall. So be on the lookout for sightings that might be mistaken for these two US spacecraft.

The key observation with any satellite or spacecraft is that the motion will always be steady and in a single direction.

Conclusion
It has often been said that eyewitness testimony in a court of law can get a person executed. This is quite true. Many ask, “…. if you can be convicted of a crime on personal testimony, then why can’t that suffice for proving the existence of a UFO?” The reason is that science requires a far more exacting standard than the law. Scientific proof requires repeatable experiments, testable material, and peer-reviewed observations.

The vast majority of our data is personal testimony. We can only hope that this will lead to the type of evidence necessary to meet the exacting requirements of science. Therefore we must be able to present the best and most scientifically documented data possible in order to one day discover the nature of the enigmatic UFO phenomena.

I believe that many within this organization would agree that to finally be able to prove the origin of UFOs may quite possibly be the most important discovery in the history of mankind. To that end, data collection, analysis and a great deal of perseverance are the keys that will one day provide the answers we all seek.

Tom Arnold is an Astronomer and currently Director of the Kirkpatrick Planetarium in Oklahoma City. He has been a MUFON Field Investigator and a published author and lecturer, currently living in Blanchard, Oklahoma. His interest in UFOs began in the 60s and continues today.

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