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Mystery radio burst picked up by observatory


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Is there anybody out there who can distill the astrophysics and radio telemetry regarding these pulses for people like me who, though not true technophobes, are real technoignoramuses? I find it interesting, but don't have the basic facts with which to approach this phenomenon. I thank you in advance.

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Is there anybody out there who can distill the astrophysics and radio telemetry regarding these pulses for people like me who, though not true technophobes, are real technoignoramuses? I find it interesting, but don't have the basic facts with which to approach this phenomenon. I thank you in advance.

Like any other sciences it will require a lot of data interpretation and presumptions. Basically there could be a whole lot heck more of scientific data and cosmical sounds produced by celestial bodies that we might believe are from aliens. It is all a big unknown really comparing to what is being know. ... If that makes sense!

P.s. i am not a scientist but have seen very well how data is interpreted.

Edited by qxcontinuum
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The linked article does a good job of explaining a possible natural astrophysical cause of Fast Radio Bursts. Of course we don't know that 'Blitzars', as they call them, even exist.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130705101626.htm

Edited by bison
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I heard they deciphered it, they were putting in their order of a Big Mac and fries, lol! :alien:

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The linked article does a good job of explaining a possible natural astrophysical cause of Fast Radio Bursts. Of course we don't know that 'Blitzars', as they call them, even exist.

http://www.scienceda...30705101626.htm

Thanks, Bison.

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Like any other sciences it will require a lot of data interpretation and presumptions. Basically there could be a whole lot heck more of scientific data and cosmical sounds produced by celestial bodies that we might believe are from aliens. It is all a big unknown really comparing to what is being know. ... If that makes sense!

P.s. i am not a scientist but have seen very well how data is interpreted.

Thanks, Qx.

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Odd that a signal that powerful would have such a short burst. This is the first I've heard of this and I'm curious to do more reading. If it's that far away I would imagine it represents something pretty powerful which really makes you wonder why the duration is so short. Don't most pulsars spin very rapidly? What if one was spinning very slowly and/or erratically?

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Odd that a signal that powerful would have such a short burst. This is the first I've heard of this and I'm curious to do more reading. If it's that far away I would imagine it represents something pretty powerful which really makes you wonder why the duration is so short. Don't most pulsars spin very rapidly? What if one was spinning very slowly and/or erratically?

Can you recommend a basic intro to the astronomy and astrophysics involved in understanding such phenomena?

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Coursera has just started a class today on the technology used in astronomy. Should introduce some basic stuff like you are looking for.

https://class.course...g/astrotech-001

Link requires registration, not good.

Edited by toast
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Oops, probably because I linked from my account.

Coursera is a free online school and is well regarded.

Here is abetter link that shouldn't require registration.

http://coursera.org/astrotech-001

Still reg. required. :yes:

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That's odd.

Now in order to do the course you are required to register an account. This is in order to keep track of your progress.

Otherwise if you have to log in just to view it somethings up on your end. I can view it just fine from multiple browsers.

I know some of the professors personally and the site work in cooperation with accredited universities.

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Here's a technical PDF:

http://arxiv.org/pdf/1404.2934v1.pdf

Here's a readable link:

http://www.nrao.edu/...07/brightburst/

Here's another link:

http://venus.fandm.e.../frb/index.html

Here's a Scientific American link:

http://www.scientifi...fy-astronomers/

Thanks, Star.

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@BISON - "The broad banded nature of the impulses has invited comparisons to natural astrophysical processes, rather than intelligent signals."

I think if this were a natural astrophysical process it would be a much more common occurrence. The fact that this signal has astronomers and physicists investigating where it originated and what generated it makes this seem like a very rare occurrence. Most processes in the universe are predictable and explainable thanks to the laws of physics. It is very rare for any kind of signal to get this much scrutiny from the world of science so I believe it is much more than a natural process that caused this signal. I am not convinced that the public has been told of all the signals we have received. I think the government keeps a tight lid on what astronomers have actually received and revealed in the past. I am not pushing any conspiracy theories but it would not be in any government's best interest to release any real findings of any communication whether they be one-way or two-way communications. That would require that the government admit we are technological midgets and that we are not the pinnacle of God's creations. Any civilization capable of transmitting a signal across the universe or even the galaxy would be considered a true threat to the powers that be.

Edited by PowerPC
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I wouldn't rule out the possibility that fast radio bursts could be intelligent signals, though extremely advanced ones. A very high data rate would presumably require a very broad bandwidth. SETI astronomers haven't ruled out this possibility, either. The Allen Telescope Array of the SETI Institute monitored the sky location of this latest FRB for a month, looking for signs of intelligent radio impulses.

I doubt that a SETI discovery could be concealed by governments, supposing they wanted to do so. There have been several instances where a potentially intelligent signal from space has been detected, and its true nature remained ambiguous for some time.

None of these situations caused governments to swoop down and silence, or threaten to silence the SETI astronomers. These signals all turned out to have natural explanations, or were never heard again, and so could not be scientifically confirmed. Still, it wasn't clear, for a while, that they wouldn't turn out to be real, confirmable extraterrestrial signals.

If governments were intent on keeping such discoveries secret, it seems that they would have moved proactively in these situations, to prevent the possibility of eventual release of the news of real extraterrestrial signals.

Astronomers routinely communicate with one another, internationally, about discoveries that are still in the tentative, ambiguous stage, in order to see if these can be confirmed by others. All governments would have to act in concert, against many observatories, to prevent the release of news of a real SETI discovery. This seems very unlikely.

Edited by bison
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I think it is one of the tenets of SETI to announce any signal to the public that may be extraterrestrial in origin.

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