The Parkes Perytons
For 17 years, one of the world's great radio telescopes picked up mysterious bursts, and they turned out to come from the staff kitchen.
What was reported
From 1998, the Parkes radio telescope in Australia occasionally detected short, powerful bursts of radio waves that looked a little like signals from deep space. Astronomers called them 'perytons', after a mythical creature, and suggested causes from lightning to aircraft to the telescope itself.
They were puzzling because they seemed to happen mostly during office hours.
Explanations offered
In 2015, astronomer Emily Petroff and her colleagues installed a new interference monitor and caught the culprit: a microwave oven at the site. When someone opened the door before the timer finished, the oven gave off a burst that the telescope picked up. They could create perytons on demand.
- When
- 1998 – 2015
- Where
- Parkes radio telescope, New South Wales, Australia
- Witnesses
- Astronomers
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.