4 ms·
> Researchers monitored the known repeater FRB 121102 with the Lovell Telescope, a 250-foot-wide (76 meters) radio dish at Jodrell Bank Observatory in England,
by raghava 6y ago
> Researchers monitored the known repeater FRB 121102 with the Lovell Telescope, a 250-foot-wide (76 meters) radio dish at Jodrell Bank Observatory in England, over the course of five years. They found strong indications of a 157-day activity cycle; 121102 seems to flare up for 90 days and then go silent for 67, the team reported in a new study.
> It's unclear what's behind such cyclic activity, though scientists do have a few ideas. For example, periodic flare-ups could be caused by a wobble in the rotational axis of a highly magnetized neutron star known as a magnetar. Or they could be linked to the orbital motions of a neutron star in a binary system.
Could this be the Dzhanibekov Effect ? Funny I just stumbled upon it today!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VPfZ_XzisU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VPfZ_XzisU
If Earth can maintain a stable axis, such wobbly oscillating axis could be that star's "normal". Just guessing! Or may be am too wrong. I am not a physicist!
- simonebrunozzi 6y ago> I am not a physicist! Man, don't be too modest. With these few lines I'd be tempted to award you a Nobel prize if I were the judge :) (exaggerating a bit, but more seriously: you seem to have your chops in this department).