17-Year-Old Radio Astronomy Mystery Traced Back To Kitchen Microwave

New submitter Bo'Bob'O writes: The BBC reports that the scientists at the Parkes and Bleien Radio Observatories in New South Wales, Australia, have tracked down earth-based signals that had been eluding observation for 17 years. These signals, which came to be called Perytons "occurred only during office hours and predominantly on weekdays." The source, as it turned out, was located right inside the antenna's tower where impatient scientists had been opening the kitchen microwave door before its cycle had finished. As the linked paper concludes, this, and a worn magnetron caused a condition that allowed the microwaves to emit a burst of frequencies not expected by the scientists, only compounding the original mystery.

Comments

Re:Defective

[msauve]

...and it takes a finite amount of time for the capacitors to discharge and the transformer fields to collapse.

Re:15 co-authors

[Anonymous Coward]

In my experience, papers where you're not the first or second author aren't really counted as toward a single person's research performance. For the purposes of looking at project performance and adviser performance, it doesn't matter if the adviser or PI's name actually appears on the paper.

Extra authors usually comes down to either courtesy or policy, to acknowledge those that helped contribute to the paper or project.

Re:Brand?

[Technician]

What amazes me most is the failure to notice the modulation frequency and ti's phase lock to local power.

Non inverter (all older) micrwaves use a 1/2 wave voltage doubler so the magnitron is only on for 1/2 the AC cycle. Google Microwave oven power supply to see a typical schematic.

For unexpected frequencies, a non linerate in RF from arcing in the door seal can cause odd order harmonics. EG splattered food on the door seal area.