Latest news with #ASKAPJ1832
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Scientists Are Stumped by Mysterious Pulsing 'Star'
ASKAP J1832 (in circle) captured by th Chandra X-Ray Observatory Credit - X-ray: NASA/CXC/ICRAR, Curtin Univ./Z. Wang et al.; Infrared: NASA/JPL/CalTech/IPAC; Radio: SARAO/MeerKAT; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk Something strange is going on 15,000 light years from Earth. Out at that distant remove, somewhere in the constellation Scutum, an unexplained body is semaphoring into space, blinking in both X-ray and radio frequencies once every 44 minutes in a way never seen by astronomers before. The object could be a white dwarf—an Earth-sized husk that remains after a star has exhausted its nuclear fuel. Or not. It could also be a magnetar—a neutron star with an exceedingly powerful magnetic field. Unless it's not that either. 'Astronomers have looked at countless stars with all kinds of telescopes and we've never seen one that acts this way,' said astronomer Ziteng Wang of Curtin University in Australia, in a statement that accompanied the May 28 release of a paper in Nature describing the object, for which he was lead author. 'It's thrilling to see a new type of behavior for stars.' So what exactly is the mysterious body—which goes by the technical handle ASKAP J1832—and how common is this species of object? ASKAP J1832 is by no means unique in the universe in sending out energy in steady flashes. Pulsars—rapidly spinning neutron stars—do too. But pulsars flash much faster than ASKAP J1832 does, on the order of milliseconds to seconds. In 2022, astronomers discovered a type of object known as a long-period transient, which, like ASKAP J1832, sends out flashes of radio waves on the order of tens of minutes. So far 10 such bodies have been found, but none identical to ASKAP J1832, which is the first to emit X-rays too. What's more, ASKAP J1832's emissions have changed over time. During one observation with NASA's orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory in February 2024, the object was prodigiously producing both X-rays and radio waves. During a follow-up observation six months later, the radio waves were 1,000 times fainter and no X-rays were detected. That was a puzzle. 'We looked at several different possibilities involving neutron stars and white dwarfs, either in isolation or with companion stars,' said co-author Nanda Rea of the Institute of Space Sciences in Barcelona, Spain, in a statement. 'So far nothing exactly matches up, but some ideas work better than others.' One of those ideas is the magnetar, but that doesn't fit precisely, due to ASKAP J1832's bright and variable radio emissions. The white dwarf remains a possibility, however in order to produce the amount of energy it does, ASKAP J1832 would have to be orbiting another body in a formation known as a binary system, and so far that second body hasn't been detected. Viewed from Earth, ASKAP J1832 appears to be located in a supernova remnant, a cloud of hot gas and high energy particles that remains after an aging star meets its explosive end. But the authors of the paper concluded that the remnant merely lies in the foreground of the observational field with ASKAP J1832 in the background, the way an earthly cloud can drift in the path of the sun. So for now, the object remains a riddle—one that will be investigated further. 'Finding a mystery like this isn't frustrating,' said co-author Tong Bao of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, in a statement. 'It's what makes science exciting.' Write to Jeffrey Kluger at
Time Magazine
19 hours ago
- Science
- Time Magazine
Scientists Are Stumped by Mysterious Pulsing ‘Star'
Something strange is going on 15,000 light years from Earth. Out at that distant remove, somewhere in the constellation Scutum, an unexplained body is semaphoring into space, blinking in both X-ray and radio frequencies once every 44 minutes in a way never seen by astronomers before. The object could be a white dwarf —an Earth-sized husk that remains after a star has exhausted its nuclear fuel. Or not. It could also be a magnetar —a neutron star with an exceedingly powerful magnetic field. Unless it's not that either. 'Astronomers have looked at countless stars with all kinds of telescopes and we've never seen one that acts this way,' said astronomer Ziteng Wang of Curtin University in Australia, in a statement that accompanied the May 28 release of a paper in Nature describing the object, for which he was lead author. 'It's thrilling to see a new type of behavior for stars.' So what exactly is the mysterious body—which goes by the technical handle ASKAP J1832—and how common is this species of object? ASKAP J1832 is by no means unique in the universe in sending out energy in steady flashes. Pulsars —rapidly spinning neutron stars—do too. But pulsars flash much faster than ASKAP J1832 does, on the order of milliseconds to seconds. In 2022, astronomers discovered a type of object known as a long-period transient, which, like ASKAP J1832, sends out flashes of radio waves on the order of tens of minutes. So far 10 such bodies have been found, but none identical to ASKAP J1832, which is the first to emit X-rays too. What's more, ASKAP J1832's emissions have changed over time. During one observation with NASA's orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory in February 2024, the object was prodigiously producing both X-rays and radio waves. During a follow-up observation six months later, the radio waves were 1,000 times fainter and no X-rays were detected. That was a puzzle. 'We looked at several different possibilities involving neutron stars and white dwarfs, either in isolation or with companion stars,' said co-author Nanda Rea of the Institute of Space Sciences in Barcelona, Spain, in a statement. 'So far nothing exactly matches up, but some ideas work better than others.' One of those ideas is the magnetar, but that doesn't fit precisely, due to ASKAP J1832's bright and variable radio emissions. The white dwarf remains a possibility, however in order to produce the amount of energy it does, ASKAP J1832 would have to be orbiting another body in a formation known as a binary system, and so far that second body hasn't been detected. Viewed from Earth, ASKAP J1832 appears to be located in a supernova remnant, a cloud of hot gas and high energy particles that remains after an aging star meets its explosive end. But the authors of the paper concluded that the remnant merely lies in the foreground of the observational field with ASKAP J1832 in the background, the way an earthly cloud can drift in the path of the sun. So for now, the object remains a riddle—one that will be investigated further. 'Finding a mystery like this isn't frustrating,' said co-author Tong Bao of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, in a statement. 'It's what makes science exciting.'
Daily Maverick
a day ago
- Science
- Daily Maverick
X-rays have revealed a mysterious cosmic object never before seen in our galaxy
After the initial discovery, we began follow-up observations using telescopes around the world, hoping to catch more pulses. With continued monitoring, we found the radio pulses from ASKAPJ1832 arrive regularly — every 44 minutes. This confirmed it as a new member of the rare long-period transient group. In a new study published today in Nature, we report the discovery of a new long-period transient — and, for the first time, one that also emits regular bursts of X-rays. Long-period transients are a recently identified class of cosmic objects that emit bright flashes of radio waves every few minutes to several hours. This is much longer than the rapid pulses we typically detect from dead stars such as pulsars. What these objects are, and how they generate their unusual signals, remains a mystery. Our discovery opens up a new window into the study of these puzzling sources. But it also deepens the mystery: the object we found doesn't resemble any known type of star or system in our galaxy – or beyond. Watching the radio sky for flickers There's much in the night sky that we can't see with human eyes but can detect when we look at other wavelengths, such as radio emissions. Our research team regularly scans the radio sky using the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP), operated by CSIRO on Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia. Our goal is to find cosmic objects that appear and disappear (known as transients). Transients are often linked to some of the most powerful and dramatic events in the universe, such as the explosive deaths of stars. In late 2023, we spotted an extremely bright source, named ASKAP J1832-0911 (based on its position in the sky), in the direction of the galactic plane. This object is located about 15,000 light years away. This is far, but still within the Milky Way. A dramatic event After the initial discovery, we began follow-up observations using telescopes around the world, hoping to catch more pulses. With continued monitoring, we found the radio pulses from ASKAPJ1832 arrive regularly — every 44 minutes. This confirmed it as a new member of the rare long-period transient group. But we did not just look forward in time — we also looked back. We searched through older telescope data from the same part of the sky. We found no trace of the object before the discovery. This suggests something dramatic happened shortly before we first detected it — something powerful enough to suddenly switch the object 'on'. Then, in February 2024, ASKAPJ1832 became extremely active. After a quieter period in January, the source brightened dramatically. Fewer than 30 objects in the sky have ever reached such brightness in radio waves. For comparison, most stars we detect in radio are about 10,000 times fainter than ASKAPJ1832 during that flare-up. A lucky break X-rays are a form of light that we can't see with our eyes. They usually come from extremely hot and energetic environments. Although about 10 similar radio-emitting objects have been found so far, none had ever shown X-ray signals. In March, we tried to observe ASKAPJ1832 in X-rays. However, due to technical issues with the telescope, the observation could not go ahead. Then came a stroke of luck. In June, I reached out to my friend Tong Bao, a postdoctoral researcher at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, to check if any previous X-ray observations had captured the source. To our surprise, we found two past observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, although the data were still under a proprietary period (not yet public). We contacted Kaya Mori, a research scientist at Columbia University and the principal investigator of those observations. He generously shared the data with us. To our amazement, we discovered clear X-ray signals coming from ASKAPJ1832. Even more remarkable: the X-rays followed the same 44-minute cycle as the radio pulses. It was a truly lucky break. Chandra had been pointed at a different target entirely, but by pure coincidence, it caught ASKAPJ1832 during its unusually bright and active phase. A chance alignment like that is incredibly rare — like finding a needle in a cosmic haystack. Still a mystery Having both radio and X-ray bursts is a common trait of dead stars with extremely strong magnetic fields, such as neutron stars (high-mass dead stars) and white dwarfs (low-mass dead stars). Our discovery suggests that at least some long-period transients may come from these kinds of stellar remnants. But ASKAPJ1832 does not quite fit into any known category of object in our galaxy. Its behaviour, while similar in some ways, still breaks the mould. We need more observations to truly understand what is going on. It is possible that ASKAPJ1832 is something entirely new, or it could be emitting radio waves in a way we have never seen before. DM
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Something is flashing at us from space – and scientists have no idea what it is
Scientists have been left stunned by a mysterious, regular signal that is flashing at us from deep in space. The new type of cosmic phenomenon has only become more mysterious with further examination, scientists say. The object in question is 15,000 light years from Earth and is known as ASKAP J1832-0911. It sends out pulses of radio waves and X-rays on a regular schedule: for two minutes, every 44 minutes. It was found with an Australian telescope that spotted radio signals coming from a specific part of space. Nasa's Chandra X-ray Observatory was coincidentally looking at that same part of space – and found that the object was emitting X-rays as well as radio pulses. It is the first time that one of these mysterious objects, known as an LPT, has been spotted sending out X-rays as well as radio signals. The researchers on a new study say that the object is 'unlike anything we have seen before' and that it could be an unknown kind of object or even a new type of physics. LPTs, or long-period transients, were first found in 2022, and researchers have spotted ten of them since. They send out radio pulses in regular bursts that are minutes or hours apart. ASKAP J1832 is not only unusual for its X-ray behaviour, however. Over the months they watched it, scientists also noted that the X-rays and radio waves dropped off – something they have never seen before in our Milky Way galaxy. Researchers don't know what the object at the heart of them might be. There is no explanation for either what the signal is or why it is flashing in such a regular way. 'This object is unlike anything we have seen before,' Dr Ziteng Wang from Curtin University. 'ASKAP J1831-0911 could be a magnetar (the core of a dead star with powerful magnetic fields), or it could be a pair of stars in a binary system where one of the two is a highly magnetised white dwarf (a low-mass star at the end of its evolution).' 'However, even those theories do not fully explain what we are observing. This discovery could indicate a new type of physics or new models of stellar evolution.' Scientists hope that the discovery that the object is emitting X-rays too could help give some insight on where the signals are coming from and how they work. 'We will continue to hunt for clues about what is happening with this object, and we'll look for similar objects,' said co-author Dr Tong Bao of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics ( INAF) – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera in Italy. 'Finding a mystery like this isn't frustrating – it's what makes science exciting!' The work is reported in a new paper, 'Detection of X-ray Emission from a Bright Long-Period Radio Transient', published in the journal Nature.
The Mainichi
2 days ago
- Science
- The Mainichi
Astronomers discover strange new celestial object in our Milky Way galaxy
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Astronomers have discovered a strange new object in our Milky Way galaxy. An international team reported Wednesday that this celestial object -- perhaps a star, pair of stars or something else entirely -- is emitting X-rays around the same time it's shooting out radio waves. What's more, the cycle repeats every 44 minutes, at least during periods of extreme activity. Located 15,000 light-years away in a region of the Milky Way brimming with stars, gas and dust, this object could be a highly magnetized dead star like a neutron or white dwarf, Curtin University's Ziteng Andy Wang said in an email from Australia. Or it could be "something exotic" and unknown, said Wang, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory spotted the X-ray emissions by chance last year while focusing on a supernova remnant, or the remains of an exploded star. Wang said it was the first time X-rays had been seen coming from a so-called long-period radio transient, a rare object that cycles through radio signals over tens of minutes. Given the uncertain distance, astronomers can't tell if the weird object is associated with the supernova remnant or not. A single light-year is 5.8 trillion miles. The hyperactive phase of this object -- designated ASKAP J1832--091 -- appeared to last about a month. Outside of that period, the star did not emit any noticeable X-rays. That could mean more of these objects may be out there, scientists said. "While our discovery doesn't yet solve the mystery of what these objects are and may even deepen it, studying them brings us closer to two possibilities," Wang said. "Either we are uncovering something entirely new, or we're seeing a known type of object emitting radio and X-ray waves in a way we've never observed before." Launched in 1999, Chandra orbits tens of thousands of miles (kilometers) above Earth, observing some of the hottest, high-energy objects in the universe.
