3 ms·
This is the really interesting bit IMO In addition, their observations revealed that the brightest of these 15 emissions occurred at around 7 GHz. This was hig
by QAPereo 9y ago
This is the really interesting bit IMO
In addition, their observations revealed that the brightest of these 15 emissions occurred at around 7 GHz. This was higher than any repeating FRBs seen to date, which indicated for the first time that they can occur at frequencies higher than previously thought. Last, but not least, the high-resolution data the Listen team collected is expected to yield valuable insights into FRBs for years to come.
This was made possible thanks to the Digital Backend instrument on the GBRT, which is able to record several GHz of bandwidth simultaneously and split the information into billions of individuals channels. This enables scientists to study the proprieties and the frequency spectrum of FRBs with greater precision, and should lead to new theories about the causes of these radio emissions.
So even if these particular signals should prove to not be extra-terrestrial in origin, Listen is still pushing the boundaries of what is possible with radio astronomy. And given that Breakthrough Listen is less than two years into its proposed ten-year survey, we can expect many more sources to be observed and studied in the coming years. If there’s evidence of ETI to be found, we’re sure to find out about it sooner or later!
- amygdyl 9y agoCant we see a way to backhaul radio telescope data from very remote locations, in the same way that Cloudflare is using asymmetric website traffic patterns? Is there any potential for collecting radio data inexpensively, I mean can we substitute network scale and geography to such a extent that commodity radio observatory is possible, in the 20 years to my retirement, or in my life, or beyond? I hear you loud and clear about the potential, but I am desperate to get a clue about how much the ramp will become steep and quick? Funny thing, if it weren't for the cheap and distributed way of inexpensive intelligence that had bombarded my senses with new information, I should be very possibly unaware of the potential for this immense explosion of discovery!
- ajross 9y agoI'm not sure what you're asking for specifically. For signals like the ones in the linked article, there's no way to observe them without a giant dish. Lots of antennas don't do anything for the problem when the noise is many orders of magnitude higher than the signal.
- windowsworkstoo 9y agoDo you mean like the square kilometer array? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Kilometre_Array https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Kilometre_Array