New Canadian
Radio Telescope
Picks up Deep Space Signal The Canadian Hydrogen
Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME)
in British Columbia recently acquired
a new radio telescope. CHIME spends most
of its time listening for signals coming from outer space. Radio telescopes rarely
pick up anything out of the ordinary, but on July 25th, CHIME's
new radio telescope did. The Astronomer's Telegram indicated
that CHIME's new device detected
a Fast Radio Burst (FRB). While FRB's aren't entirely uncommon, their origins remain unknown. They come from so
far away that no one has the slightest
clue where they stem from. The FRB that was detected by CHIME, now called FRB 180725A, is special because it had a frequency of 580 Mhz. No FRB has ever been detected
below 700 Mhz before. Aside from being able to document FRB's,
scientists and researchers have
very little information about them. Some people speculate that they come from black holes, some say alien civilizations and others attribute an exploding star. Whatever the cause, one thing is for certain. Canada's find is one-of-a-kind.