The quest for alien life has led many to attempt to interpret laser flashes and even radio broadcasts, albeit unsuccessfully.
However, scientists may have made a breakthrough as a new study suggests that radio bursts could be proof of alien technology at work.
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) has come up with an interesting theory for Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). The researchers are of the belief that the FRBs may originate from alien space probes.
What Are FRBs?
FRBs reportedly originate from exceedingly eruptive cosmic phenomena, such as mass black hole ejections, exploding super luminous supernovae, or lashing of material around rotating magnetars.
These intense bursts of radio waves are only in existence for 1 to 5 milliseconds. Earlier this year, scientists have located an FRB in a dwarf galaxy 3 billion light-years away. They have been enticed and puzzled by these strange outbursts ever since the discovery in 2007.
Not much is known about FRBs however. Harvard scientists are, therefore, excited to put forward their own theory.
CfA Researchers' Theory
Researchers at the CfA, which is a joint effort of Harvard College Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, theorize that FRBs are not a natural phenomenon. They believe that these radio waves are emitted by massive artificial aircrafts.
"Fast radio bursts are exceedingly bright, given their short duration and origin at great distances, and we haven't identified a possible natural source without any confidence. An artificial origin is worth contemplating and checking," says Avi Loeb, a professor at Harvard University.
The concept is that FRBs originate from a huge extra-terrestrial power plant, which is used to propel alien ships using light sails. Studies have shown that an immensely powerful beam of light can cause a body to move forward in space vacuum.
This principle may be followed by aliens to travel to other galaxies, and such technology could allow space travel to speed up incredibly.
It is quite feasible that advanced alien settlements are already using this photonic propulsion technology to lend wings to their huge spaceships. Loeb and his fellow research mate Manasvi Lingam have found out something very interesting in their research.
If a machine twice the size of Earth was harnessing solar energy and in turn converting it to beams, so that they could power up and propel spacecrafts, the radio waves emitted from the ship would be detectable even across billions of light years. Such a mammoth device could carry huge spacecrafts through interstellar and intergalactic journeys.
"That's big enough to carry living passengers across interstellar or even intergalactic distances," said Lingam.
Is This The First Occurrence?
The first radio burst to be discovered this year was in fact pinpointed nine times before, in a duration of six months. This could prove that these signals were persistently coming from an alien device, which is regularly lining up with Earth. All this, however, is highly speculative right now.
It remains to be seen whether the mystery of the FRBs will be solved or not. The study has been published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
