Microwave ovens, not aliens, may be source of strange radio signals

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

The mystery surrounding an unusual type of radio signals known as perytons that have been detected at the Parkes Observatory in Australia has been solved, and a microwave oven, not an interstellar phenomenon or an extraterrestrial life form, is apparently the source.

According to CNET, the radio telescope at the facility had been picking up unusual signals as of late – signals similar to the transient, celestial radio pulses known as fast radio bursts (FRBs) that have been detected a total of 11 times at the Parkes Observatory. Unlike FRBs, however, it turns out that perytons have a distinctly terrestrial origin, astronomers there have learned.

In a new study currently available on the arXiv server, the authors revealed that they were able to generate a peryton at 1.4 GHz by prematurely opening a microwave door when the telescope is pointed at “an appropriate relative angle.” Essentially, by reaching for that microwave burrito before the appliance shuts off, a person could create one of the short, strong radio signals.

Somebody let that History Channel guy know it’s not aliens

Provided the observatory’s radio telescope is pointed in the right direction, it will pick up that FRB-like signal. The researchers set out to discover the origin of the perytons after learning that the waves were primarily detected during office hours on weekdays, and searched for them with a real-time radio interference monitor installed on the grounds, the website explained.

In January, the monitor detected three signals at the same time as the telescope registered peryton readings, all of which occurred in the frequency range emitted by microwave ovens. Lead author Emily Petroff and her colleagues decided to test the microwaves located in the facility and found that they could produce perytons by opening the unit’s door before it stopped running.

“The two ovens responsible for most or all of the observed perytons are from the same manufacturer (Matsushita/National),” Petroff wrote, according to CNET, “and are both in excess of 27 years of age though still working reliably. Our tests point clearly to the magnetron itself as the source of the perytons since these are not detected unless the oven door is opened.”

“Further, our analysis of the peryton cluster of 23rd June 1998 implies the perytons are a transient phenomenon that occurs only when the magnetron is switched off,” she added. “That we have observed perytons from at least two ovens over 17 years suggests that they are not the product of an unusual failure or fault but are inherent to, and long-lived in, at least some common types of oven.”

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