back to article Strange radio telescope signals came from microwave ovens

Boffins' lunches have been fingered as the source of a long-standing mystery: the peryton, which clouded discussions of the origin of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). Perytons have some similarities to FRBs (such as signal dispersion), but scientists were always fairly certain that their origin was terrestrial. At Parkes, for example …

  1. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Martin Budden Silver badge
      Holmes

      The simple fact that I can see my food through the glass door is all the proof I need that some radiation is getting out.

      p.s. yes my real name is Captain Obvious.

    2. Christian Berger

      Well "sealed" does not necessarily mean "perfectly sealed". Essentially something like 99.99% of the radiation stays in and heats your food. The rest is irrelevant. If it was only keeping 90% in, you'd not only waste energy, but the radiation levels outside your 700 Watt microwave oven would start to become unpleasant.

      The remaining radiation certainly shouldn't be large enough to cause an "all sky" event at a rather remote radio telescope, except of course for when you open it to soon.

      1. Antonymous Coward
        Boffin

        Am I the only one thinking that it sounds like a boff or two is in the habit of popping the door open while the thing's running, relying on the safety cut-off as an instant(ish) "off"?

        Naughty boff.

        Don't forget the safety specs when handling hot cupasoups --->

      2. This post has been deleted by its author

        1. Mister_C

          @1980s_coder

          "I'll have to connect a spectrum analyser up to a spoon sometime and measure the field :)"

          Your Ignobel award is in the post

        2. VeganVegan

          I assume that you are stirring food in a metal pot

          in which case the pot should be shielding your spoon from the field.

        3. Christian Berger

          Uhm, first of all 0.7 Watts would kill every wireless LAN in the building, and that's the concern, not some weird concern about radiation.

          "2000 watts of energy" I'm sorry, but that phrase kinda disqualifies you. Plus you're not likely to see a lot on your spectrum analyzer as the frequency is rather low. You don't actually get a wave with a coil fed with 20-50 kHz. Without a secondary winding (i.e. a pot) the energy will just oscillate between the inductivity and the capacity.

      3. harmjschoonhoven
        Stop

        @Christian Berger

        Almost all radiation leaks away if the microwave oven is turned on while it is empty. This can be shown with a 6 cm ø wireloop, a Ge-diode and an mA-meter.

  2. Ole Juul

    Diet change

    From now on it will be low peryton lunches at Parkes.

    1. Mark 85

      Re: Diet change

      I guess they'll have to make lunch the old-fashion way... a stove or a thermal oven. Although the true hi-tech way would be to turn the kitchen/lunch room area where the microwaves are into a Faraday cage.

      1. dan1980

        Re: Diet change

        Or they could just eat a sandwich.

      2. MacroRodent
        Facepalm

        Re: Diet change

        I guess they'll have to make lunch the old-fashion way... a stove or a thermal oven.

        And a gas or wood burning one at that! I fact, I was surprised microwawe owens were allowed anywhere near such observatories, their potential for interference should've been obvious.

      3. Antonymous Coward
        Terminator

        Re: Diet change

        "turn the kitchen/lunch room area where the microwaves are into a Faraday cage."

        Sort of like a gigantic microwave oven then? Containing a smattering of boffins and a questionably controlled magnetron. Cool! Think I once saw the same sort of setup in a film.

        1. Benchops

          Re: Diet change

          How long to heat up a cup-a-soup placed at the focus of one of the microwave dishes?

  3. Gray Ham Bronze badge
    Joke

    The Dish, II

    ... a quirky comedy relating the true-ish story of a team of intrepid boffins who celebrate their success in finding extra-terrestrial intelligence by adjourning to the lunch room for some microwave popcorn ...

  4. MrDamage Silver badge
    Joke

    FRB's

    They're the end result of somebody trying to microwave a microwave.

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Happy

      Re: FRB's

      No. They're just intergalactic mini-cab drivers organising pickups.

      "Whaddaya mean South of the Western Spiral Arm? At this time 'o night? No fear mate? You can get out on your tentacles and walk if you wanna go down there. I'm for me bed, I'm off East to galactic centre mate."

  5. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

    Should probably fix that

    Good ovens turn off the magnetron when the door latch is released, which is one step before the door can open. That burst of leakage might not hurt humans but 2.4 GHz WiFi, Bluetooth, and cell phone radios don't last long with that going on nearby.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    good

    I hope that everyone who opens a microwave oven while its running gets a burst every time. If only for not resetting the timer when they remove their food.

  7. Mystic Megabyte
    Alien

    Aliens, Microwaves?

    I'm still wondering if the fridge light is off when the door is shut.

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: Aliens, Microwaves?

      That's easy to work out. Just put your cat in your fridge and close the door. You should be able to solve two problems at once.

    2. razorfishsl

      Re: Aliens, Microwaves?

      Have you found the 'secret' blue light that sits by the drip tray yet?

  8. ilmari

    I'm kinda surprised anyone at all cares about a burst in the 2.4GHz band, surely there will always be someone with random gadgets near telescopes?

    1. tony2heads

      random gadgets

      Serious radio observatories band 'gadgets' when doing observations. They maybe more lax during open days and maintenance times.

      1. Chris 239

        Serious radio observatories?

        NO! A band of mobile phones will sound like a Buck Rogers convention

  9. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

    Duh!

    So, that Freeman's prank with Magnusson's microwave did cause the resonance cascade after all!

  10. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    Speaking of Capt Obvious

    Strange signal centered in the 2.4 GHz range.

    Duh.

  11. Brian 3

    My panasonic inverter microwave does indeed kill the wifi in the house.

    1. JeffyPoooh
      Pint

      Wifi and microwave ovens

      @Brian 3

      Study the wifi channels GHz, compare to oven at probably at 2.45 GHz (check), and adjust router wifi to another channel.

      Or just dive in and try channels 1, 6, or 13.

      1. FrankAlphaXII

        Re: Wifi and microwave ovens

        Unless you're in North America. Channel 13's restricted to low power use, and its damned close to a restricted area of spectrum at 2483.5 Mhz. I really doubt anyone would come after you for using it but playing games with the FCC is like playing games with the IRS. They can make your life very difficult if you give them a perceived reason to do so.

  12. Conundrum1885

    Noticed also

    Some linear fluorescent tubes emit broadband interference when they come to the end of their working lives because the plasma discharge becomes unstable and "hoots" at RF.

    Confirmed that with light on the signal here drops from 5 down to 2 bars and also affects 3G as well as IR remote control on helicopter which crashed to the floor the second the light was turned on.

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