Electromagnetic Wave
Light, Sound and Waves

Mysterious microwaves from space

Stories from Physics for 11-14 14-16 IOP RESOURCES

Over a period of four years, scientists using the Parkes Radio Telescope in New South Wales, Australia had been detecting mysterious, fleeting bursts of radio signals. The researchers wrote a report on the preprint server ArXiv describing the strange broadcasts, which they labelled ‘perytons’. It was subsequently discovered that the signals could be replicated by directing the telescope in a particular direction and opening the door of the microwave in the facility’s break room. 

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