A MYSTERIOUS object 500million light years away has baffled scientists after transmitting signals that hit Earth every 16 days.

Scientists do not know what is causing the phenomenon, but it is being recognised as the first reliable pattern of fast radio bursts in deep space.

4 An object could be causing the first reliable fast radio bursts in space Credit: AFP or licensors

4 The radio bursts are hitting earth every 16 days Credit: Getty Images - Getty

4 Astronomers identified the bursts coming using CHIME (pitcured) Credit: Shutterstock/James William Smith

These newly discovered radio bursts repeat their activity every 16 days - suggesting something is controlling them.

Researchers have so far found over 100 types of fast radio bursts, but only 10 of those have been seen to repeat - and none have shown any consistent tempo.

Astrophysicists discovered the pattern in data from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, or CHIME, radio telescope in British Columbia.

In this particular instance, around one to two radio bursts will blast out per hour for four days before going silent for 12 days.

The cycle then repeats itself.

These bursts were recently traced to a spiral galaxy nearly 500 million light-years away from Earth.

Duncan Lorimer, an astrophysicist at West Virginia University in Morgantown told Science News: “This is very significant.

"It’s potentially going to take us in an interesting direction to get to the bottom of these repeaters.”

It has been suggested that this particular fast radio burst could be orbiting something else, such as a star or a black hole.

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Winds could be another cause, periodically boosting or blocking radio pulses.

But despite scientists not knowing what causes the signals, they are ruling some things out.

Leon Oostrum at the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy told New Scientist: "If it were an alien beacon I would think it would emit more quickly, because a 16-day period is not efficient for communication.

"Imagine getting one signal every 16 days – it would take forever to get a message."

WHAT ARE FAST RADIO BURSTS? Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are radio emissions that appear randomly - making them hard to track.

It is not yet known what produces them.

The first FRB was recognised by radio telescopes in 2001 but was only discovered in 2007 when scientists were analysing the data.

Researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics point say FRBs can be used to study the structure and evolution of the universe.

A large population of faraway FRBs could act as probes of material across gigantic distances.

A study of this material should help us understand basic cosmic constituents better - such as the relative amounts of ordinary matter, dark matter and dark energy.

4 Scientists do not know what is causing the bursts Credit: Getty Images - Getty

Scientist Seth Shostak from the SETI Institutes explains what Fast Radio Bursts are

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