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SCIENTISTS have uncovered an unusual and unexplained signal emanating from deep space.
The signal was identified by Nasa’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, which launched in 2008.
Researchers noticed the signal while analyzing 13 years of data collected by the Fermi telescope.
The Fermi telescope is a space observatory specializing in gamma-ray astronomy observations from low Earth orbit.
Gamma rays are a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation that develops from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei.
Moreover, gamma radiation is the most energetic form of light in the Universe.
These bursts mark the end of the life of a massive star, otherwise known as a supernova.
They can also develop after a collision between two neutron stars.
As such, this signal is perplexing scientists and challenging what they know about space rays.
It was “an unexpected and as yet unexplained feature outside of our galaxy,” wrote Francis Reddy of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Researchers were searching for one of the oldest gamma-ray features, known as the cosmic microwave background or CMB.
Instead, they located this unexplained signal coming from a similar direction and with a nearly identical magnitude, Science Alert reported.
“It is a completely serendipitous discovery,” said Alexander Kashlinsky, a cosmologist at the University of Maryland and Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
“We found a much stronger signal, and in a different part of the sky than the one we were looking for.”
The findings were detailed in an article published in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Researchers believe the discovery could be linked to a cosmic gamma-ray feature observed in 2017.
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