Astronomers in Australia chose a strange radio signal-one next to our planet and so powerful that it overtook everything else in the sky for a moment. After that, the search for his source caused new questions about the growing problem of garbage in the Earth’s orbit.
But at first, the researchers thought they were watching something exotic.
“We were all excited, believing that we had discovered an unknown object near the ground,” said an associate professor at Curtin’s University at Curtin’s Radio Astronomical Institute in Western Australia.
The data James and his colleagues viewed from Askap Radio Telescope, many 36 dishes in the Wajarri Yamaji country, each of which is about three floors. Usually the team would look for data on a signal type called “Fast Radio Bang” – a flash of energy exploding from distant galaxies.
“These are extremely powerful radio (waves) explosions that last about the millisecond,” James said. “We do not know who produces them, and we are trying to find out because they really challenge the known physicists – they are so bright. We also try to use them to investigate the distribution of matter in the universe.”
Astronomers believe these explosions can come from magnetarians, James says. These objects are very dense residue of dead stars with powerful magnetic fields. “Magnetarians are completely, completely crazy,” James said. “They are the most extreme things you can get in the universe until something turns into a black hole.”
But it seemed that the signal came from very close to the ground – so close that it could not be an astronomical object. “We were able to find out that it came from about 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles). And we received a fairly accurate equivalent of this old satellite called 2 relay – there are databases that you can find where any satellite could be found and no other satellites,” James said.
“We were disappointed because of that, but we thought, ‘Hang a second. What still caused it? “
Mass short circuit
1964 NASA has released Relay 2, an experimental communication satellite, into orbit. This was an updated version of Relay 1, which rose two years earlier and was used to transmit signals between the US and Europe and broadcast in 1964. Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Just three years later, when her mission was completed, both of her main instruments were inappropriate, Relay 2 has already turned into a Space Junk. Since then, she has been on our planet without purpose, while James and his colleagues have linked him to a strange signal they discovered on June 13.
But can a dead satellite come back to life after decades of silence?
To try to answer this question, astronomers wrote their analysis document published on Monday, the Astrophysical Journal Letters magazine.
They realized that the source of the signal was not a distant galaxy anomaly, but something close when they saw that the image provided by the telescope – the graphic image – was blurred.
The above blurry view, which causes astronomers to remain heads and the signal is a bright place in the center. – Marcin Glowacki
“(T) his reason that we received this blurry image was because (source) was close to the antenna outside – over tens of thousands of kilometers,” James said. “When you have a source close to the antenna, it gets a little later on the outer antennas and creates a curved wave, not flat when it’s really far.”
This mismatch between different antennas caused blurry, so by removing it, the researchers removed the signal emanating from external antennas so that only the inner part of the telescope would be favorable to the outside of Australia.
“When we first discovered it, it looked pretty weak. But when we zoomed up, it became brighter and brighter. The full signal is about 30 nanoskonds, or 30 billion seconds, but the main part is only about three nanoskundes, and that’s actually what our instrument sees,” said James. “The signal was about 2000 or 3,000 times brighter than all the other radio data determined by our (instrument) – it was the brightest thing in the sky, thousands.”
Researchers have two ideas that could have caused such a powerful spark. The main culprit was probably the accumulation of static electricity on the satellite metal skin, which was suddenly released, James said.
“You start with an electron accumulation on the surface of the spacecraft. The spacecraft begins to charge due to the accumulation of electron. And it constantly loads until it is charged enough to briefly combine some spacecraft component and you get a sudden spark,” he explained. “It’s just as you rub your feet on the carpet and then you mask a friend with your finger.”
The less likely cause is the effect of micrometeorite, cosmic rock larger than 1 millimeter (0.039 inch): “Micrometeorite, which affects the spacecraft (O Met), driving 20 kilometers per second or higher, substantially turning (results) from the impact to plasma – incredibly hot. “And this plasma can spread a short radio waves.”
However, according to research, strict circumstances will need to be implemented to prevent this interaction between micrometeorite, which indicates that it is less likely that this was the cause. “We know that (electrostatic) emissions can actually be quite common,” James said. “As far as people are concerned, they are not dangerous at all. But they can absolutely ruin the spaceship.”
NASA 1964 Started the Reference of Communications Satellite 2. Three years later, the Relay 2 mission ended. – NASA
The risk of confusion
Because these release is difficult to observe, James believes that the radio signal event shows that terrestrial radio observations can reveal “strange things that happen to satellites” and that researchers can employ a much cheaper, easier device to look for similar events rather than an expanding telescope. He also speculated that since the 2 relay was an early satellite, it may be that the materials from which they are made were more prone to static charge accumulation than modern satellites that were created in the light of this problem.
However, the realization that satellites can interfere with the observation of galaxy also challenges and add the list of the Space Junk threats. Since the dawn of cosmic age, nearly 22,000 satellites have reached orbit and slightly more than half still work. Over the decades, dead satellites have faced hundreds of times to create a thick debris field and spawn millions of small fragments that fly up to 18,000 miles per hour.
“We try to see from the universe essentially nanoscond things that come to us from the universe, and if the satellites can also create it, then we will have to be really careful,” said James, talking about misleading satellite explosions with astronomical objects. “As more and more satellites grow, this will complicate this experiment.”
James and his team analysis of this event are “detailed and smart,” says James Cordes, a professor of astronomy at George Feldtein, a Cornell University who was not associated with research. “Given that the phenomenon of electrostatic discharge has been known for a long time,” he wrote CNN email. In a letter: “I think their interpretation is probably correct. I am not sure that the micrometeoroid idea set out in paper as an alternative is exclusive. The latter can activate the former.”
Ralph Spencer, a professor of radio astronomy at the University of Manchester, who was also not related to work, agrees that the proposed mechanism is possible, noting that GPS satellite sparks had previously been discovered.
The study illustrates how astronomers have to make sure they are not confused by radio bursts from astrophysical sources with electrostatic unloading or micrometeoroid explosions indicated both Cordes and Spencer.
“The results show that such narrow space impulses can be more common than previously thought, and that careful analysis is needed to show that radiation stems from stars and other astronomical objects rather than with human objects close to the ground,” Spencer added. In the letter.
“New experiments are now being developed, such as Australia built in a square kilometer, Land-Low will be able to explain this new effect.”
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