For years, scientists have been trying to uncover the source of mysterious radio signals being picked up in Australia.

Theories have ranged from evaporating black holes to extraterrestrial communication and mergers of neutron stars.

Now researchers at the Parkes Observatory claim they have finally found the source of these 'alien' signals - in their kitchen microwave.

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For years, scientists have been trying to uncover the source of mysterious radio signals being picked up in Australia. Theories have ranged from evaporating black holes to extraterrestrial communication and mergers of neutron stars. The time-frequency structure of the three January perytons is shown here

Scientists knew the strange signals, known as perytons, originated somewhere near to the planet, but they had no idea just how close.

In fact, the microwave was next door in the staff kitchen and visitors centre at the observatory.

'Until now, the physical origin of the dispersion-mimicking perytons had remained a mystery,' wrote Emily Petroff and her team at Australia's Parkes Observatory in a paper uploaded to arXiv.

'We have identified strong out-of-band emission at 2.3-2.5 GHz associated with several peryton events.'

Scientists knew the strange signals, known as perytons, originated somewhere near to the planet, but they had no idea just how close.In fact, the microwave was next door in the staff kitchen and visitors centre at the observatory

RADIOWAVES FROM MICROWAVES A brief burst of radiowaves can be generated if you open the microwave door before the timer goes off. This is because the devices that produces microwaves – known as a magnetron – won't be completely turned off. As a result, the microwave oven briefly transmits radio waves into the open air. 'Radio emission escaping from microwave ovens during the magnetron shut-down phase neatly explain all of the observed properties of the peryton signals,' the study authors write. Advertisement

The researchers were able to replicate the emission of perytons by opening the microwave door while the device was still running.

Within a fraction of a second, the microwave activity was picked up by the reader and the source of the perytons revealed.

The timing also appeared to coincide with when many of the staff wanted to heat up their lunch.

'Subsequent tests revealed that a peryton can be generated at 1.4 GHz when a microwave oven door is opened prematurely and the telescope is at an appropriate relative angle,' the authors wrote.

Perytons are much like fast radio bursts, which are highly energetic signals that appear to be coming from deep space.

While researchers may have solved the mystery of perytons, they still have no idea what is causing fast radio bursts.

In January, astronomers at the facility were able to see a 'fast radio burst' tearing through space.

The discovery brought scientists a step closer to understanding the strange 'alien' phenomenon, which astronomers worldwide are vying to explain.

Lasting only milliseconds, the first such radio burst was discovered in 2007 by astronomers combing the Parkes telescope data archive for unrelated objects.

Six more bursts, apparently from outside our galaxy, have now been found with the Parkes telescope and a seventh with the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico.

And this time, scientists say they have ruled out all kitchen appliances.