Astronomers Ponder Nature of Enigmatic Signal Coming From Distant Galaxy

Some of the most likely candidates for the signal’s origin appear to be a background quasar or radio galaxy.

A team of astronomers led by Joel Balzan of Western Sydney University in Australia has detected a mysterious signal emanating from the spiral galaxy NGC 2082.

While the exact nature of the signal remains unclear at this time, the team came up with a hypothesis regarding its origin.

"We present radio continuum observations of NGC 2082 using ASKAP, ATCA and Parkes telescopes from 888 MHz to 9,000 MHz. Some 20 arcsec from the center of this nearby spiral galaxy, we discovered a bright and compact radio source, J054149.24–641813.7, of unknown origin", the researchers wrote.

Having examined several possibilities, the astronomers suggest that the most likely origin of the signal is an “extragalactic background source, such as quasi-stellar object (QSO, quasar), radio galaxy or active galactic nucleus”, Phys.org notes.

“No transient events were detected with the Parkes telescope over three days of observations, and our calculations show J054149.24-641813.7 is two orders of magnitude less luminous than the persistent radio sources associated with FRB 121102 & 190520B”, they wrote. “We find that the probability of finding such a source behind NGC 2082 is P = 1.2 percent, and conclude that the most likely origin for J054149.24-641813.7 is a background quasar or radio galaxy”.