Latest news with #InternationalCentreforRadioAstronomyResearch
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Astronomers find startling pulsing object in Milky Way: 'Unlike anything we have seen'
Astronomers recently discovered a never-before-seen celestial phenomenon hiding in our own cosmic backyard. The mystery object, located just a short 15,000 light-years from Earth in our Milky Way galaxy, revealed itself to an international team of scientists when it was observed emitting startling pulses. What made the pulses puzzling to the astronomers was that they came in the form of both radio waves and X-rays. Most intriguing: the cycle occurred like clockwork for two minutes at a time every 44 minutes. The discovery marks the first time that such objects, called long-period transients, have been detected in X-rays, the team said in a press release announcing the findings. 'This object is unlike anything we have seen before,' Ziteng Andy Wang, an astronomer at Curtin University in Australia who led the research, said in a statement. The objects, which emit radio pulses occurring minutes or hours apart, are a relatively recent discovery – with just 10 being identified since 2022, the team said. While astronomers are so far unable to explain the origin of the mystifying signals and why they occur at unusual intervals, the team hopes their findings provide some insights. Milky Way photos: Stunning images of our galaxy making itself visible around the globe The Milky Way is our home galaxy with a disc of stars that spans more than 100,000 light-years. Because it appears as a rotating disc curving out from a dense central region, the Milky Way is known as a spiral galaxy. Our planet itself is located along one of the galaxy's spiral arms, about halfway from the center, according to NASA. The Milky Way sits in a cosmic neighborhood called the Local Group that includes more than 50 other galaxies. Those galaxies can be as small as a dwarf galaxy with up to only a few billion stars, or as large as Andromeda, our nearest large galactic neighbor. The Milky Way got its name because from our perspective on Earth, it appears as a faint band of light stretching across the entire sky. The team discovered the object, known as ASKAP J1832-0911, in the Milky Way by using a radio telescope in Australia. The astronomers, all from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, then correlated the radio signals with X-ray pulses detected by NASA's space telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The Australian radio telescope has a wide field view of the night sky, while Chandra observes only a fraction of it. For that reason, the astronomers say it was fortunate that Chandra was coincidentally observing the same area of the night sky at the same time. 'Discovering that ASKAP J1832-0911 was emitting X-rays felt like finding a needle in a haystack,' Wang said in a statement. Astronomy: Fast radio burst detected in 'dead' galaxy raises questions about mysterious signals It's possible the celestial object could be the core of a dead star, known as a magnetar. With their extremely strong magnetic fields, these neutron stars – small, dense collapsed cores of supergiant stars – are capable of producing the powerful bursts of energy that have been observed for years. The object could also be a pair of stars in a binary system in which one of them is a highly-magnetized white dwarf star at the end of its evolution, the team said. But Wang cautioned that neither of those theories fully explains what his team observed. "This discovery could indicate a new type of physics or new models of stellar evolution," Wang said in a statement. Fortunately, finding one object using both X-rays and radio waves hints at the existence of many more, according to the researchers. The findings were published Wednesday, May 28, in the journal Nature. Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Strange pulsing object spotted in Milky Way: Here's what it could be
USA Today
5 days ago
- Science
- USA Today
Astronomers find startling pulsing object in Milky Way: 'Unlike anything we have seen'
Astronomers find startling pulsing object in Milky Way: 'Unlike anything we have seen' The mystery object, located just a short 15,000 light-years from Earth in our Milky Way galaxy, revealed itself to an international team of scientists when it was observed emitting pulses. Astronomers recently discovered a never-before-seen celestial phenomenon hiding in our own cosmic backyard. The mystery object, located just a short 15,000 light-years from Earth in our Milky Way galaxy, revealed itself to an international team of scientists when it was observed emitting startling pulses. What made the pulses puzzling to the astronomers was that they came in the form of both radio waves and X-rays. Most intriguing: the cycle occurred like clockwork for two minutes at a time every 44 minutes. The discovery marks the first time that such objects, called long-period transients, have been detected in X-rays, the team said in a press release announcing the findings. 'This object is unlike anything we have seen before,' Ziteng Andy Wang, an astronomer at Curtin University in Australia who led the research, said in a statement. The objects, which emit radio pulses occurring minutes or hours apart, are a relatively recent discovery – with just 10 being identified since 2022, the team said. While astronomers are so far unable to explain the origin of the mystifying signals and why they occur at unusual intervals, the team hopes their findings provide some insights. Milky Way photos: Stunning images of our galaxy making itself visible around the globe What is the Milky Way galaxy? The Milky Way is our home galaxy with a disc of stars that spans more than 100,000 light-years. Because it appears as a rotating disc curving out from a dense central region, the Milky Way is known as a spiral galaxy. Our planet itself is located along one of the galaxy's spiral arms, about halfway from the center, according to NASA. The Milky Way sits in a cosmic neighborhood called the Local Group that includes more than 50 other galaxies. Those galaxies can be as small as a dwarf galaxy with up to only a few billion stars, or as large as Andromeda, our nearest large galactic neighbor. The Milky Way got its name because from our perspective on Earth, it appears as a faint band of light stretching across the entire sky. How did astronomers detect strange pulses in Milky Way? The team discovered the object, known as ASKAP J1832-0911, in the Milky Way by using a radio telescope in Australia. The astronomers, all from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, then correlated the radio signals with X-ray pulses detected by NASA's space telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The Australian radio telescope has a wide field view of the night sky, while Chandra observes only a fraction of it. For that reason, the astronomers say it was fortunate that Chandra was coincidentally observing the same area of the night sky at the same time. 'Discovering that ASKAP J1832-0911 was emitting X-rays felt like finding a needle in a haystack,' Wang said in a statement. Astronomy: Fast radio burst detected in 'dead' galaxy raises questions about mysterious signals What could the pulsing be? It's possible the celestial object could be the core of a dead star, known as a magnetar. With their extremely strong magnetic fields, these neutron stars – small, dense collapsed cores of supergiant stars – are capable of producing the powerful bursts of energy that have been observed for years. The object could also be a pair of stars in a binary system in which one of them is a highly-magnetized white dwarf star at the end of its evolution, the team said. But Wang cautioned that neither of those theories fully explains what his team observed. "This discovery could indicate a new type of physics or new models of stellar evolution," Wang said in a statement. Fortunately, finding one object using both X-rays and radio waves hints at the existence of many more, according to the researchers. The findings were published Wednesday, May 28, in the journal Nature. Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@
Gizmodo
6 days ago
- General
- Gizmodo
Mysterious Space Object Is Pumping Out a Pair of Signals That Shouldn't Go Together
Astronomers have discovered a strange new object that behaves unlike any observed before. The hope is that the source will provide some much-needed insight into the origin of mysterious cosmic signals that have puzzled experts for the last several years. A team of researchers led by astronomers from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Australia found the object—known as ASKAP J1832-0911—using the ASKAP radio telescope, which picked up pulses of radio waves emanating from it. This suggests that it belongs to a mysterious, recently discovered class of objects called long-period transients (LPTs), which emit radio pulses over unusually long and regular intervals—typically minutes or hours apart. Since LPT signals were first detected by ICRAR astronomers in 2022, only 10 of these objects have been documented, according to a statement from the organization. Astronomers are still trying to figure out exactly what LPTs are and why they exhibit such odd behavior. In March, there appeared to be a new break in the case when a study linked LPT pulses to a binary star system composed of a white dwarf and a red dwarf, but J1832-0911 has turned out to be especially peculiar. While the ASKAP radio telescope was observing it, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory just so happened to be looking at the same piece of sky. This revealed that the object, located in the Milky Way some 15,000 light-years from Earth, was also sending out pulses of X-rays. Detecting X-ray emissions from ASKAP J1832-0911 'felt like finding a needle in a haystack,' lead author Ziteng (Andy) Wang, an astronomer at the Curtin University arm of ICRAR, said in the statement. 'The ASKAP radio telescope has a wide field view of the night sky, while Chandra observes only a fraction of it. So, it was fortunate that Chandra observed the same area of the night sky at the same time.' This is the first time that X-ray emissions have been observed from an LPT. J1832-0911 emits radio waves and X-rays simultaneously for a period of two minutes over intervals of 44 minutes, exhibiting properties that are 'unique amongst known galactic objects and require a new explanation,' the authors state in their paper, published today in the journal Nature. Uncovering the true nature of J1832-0911 will require further research, but Wang and his colleagues have some initial ideas about what it might be. 'ASKAP [J1832-0911] could be a magnetar (the core of a dead star with powerful magnetic fields),' he said. Simultaneous pulses of radio waves and X-rays have been observed from magnetars before. Alternatively, '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),' Wang added. In this scenario—which has also been previously documented—the interaction between a rapidly spinning, magnetized white dwarf and its companion causes the system to emit pulses that span the electromagnetic spectrum—from X-rays to radio waves. But according to Wang and his colleagues, neither of these possibilities can fully explain what they observed from J1832-0911. Thus, this discovery could indicate that some new physics is taking place, or that astronomers need to tweak existing models of stellar evolution. Now, the search for more of these bizarre objects is on. 'Finding one such object hints at the existence of many more,' co-author Nanda Rea, an astrophysicist at the Institute of Space Science (ICE-CSIC) and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) in Spain, said in the statement. The discovery of J1832-0911's transient X-ray emissions 'opens up fresh insights' into the mysterious nature of LPTs, she said.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Chance X-Ray Discovery Reveals Mystery Object 15,000 Light Years Away
The mystery of strangely blinking objects scattered throughout the Milky Way just deepened. Something 15,000 light-years away from the Sun isn't just slowly, methodically beaming out radio waves – each pulse is also blasting emissions in X-ray wavelengths, serendipitous observations have revealed. This behavior is completely new and scientists are at a loss to explain it. "This object is unlike anything we have seen before," says astronomer Ziteng (Andy) Wang of the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Australia. For a few years now, powerful radio telescopes in the Australian desert have been collecting observations of strange objects: ones that emit long pulses of radio waves with lengthy pauses between each emission. The first, detailed in a 2022 paper, is 4,000 light-years away, and blasts out 30 to 60 seconds of radio waves every 18 minutes. The next one was found to be 15,000 light-years away emitting five-minute blasts of radio waves every 22 minutes. The third identified, 5,000 light-years away, spits out 30 to 60 seconds of radio waves every 2.9 hours. To date, around 10 of these long-period transients (LPTs), as they are known, have been discovered by astronomers around the world. This newly discovered object ups the ante, however. Named ASKAP J1832-0911, it emits a two minute pulse every 44 minutes that consists of radio waves and X-rays. We might never have known this, either, except that the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder radio telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory happened to be viewing the same patch of sky at the same time and recorded simultaneous observations that revealed the weird behavior. "Discovering that ASKAP J1832-0911 was emitting X-rays felt like finding a needle in a haystack," Wang says. "The ASKAP radio telescope has a wide field view of the night sky, while Chandra observes only a fraction of it. So, it was fortunate that Chandra observed the same area of the night sky at the same time." The pulses of the object are very bright, and the luminosity of both kinds of emission is correlated. We also know the source is compact, and that no emission was detected prior to November 2023, suggesting that it only recently became active. At this point, however, it starts to become more difficult to narrow down what the object could be. "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 magnetized white dwarf (a low-mass star at the end of its evolution)," Wang says. "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." Both explanations have issues. Although the radio and X-ray pulses are in line with with magnetar behavior, the behavior of the object's other emissions are inconsistent with magnetar activity. Conversely, white dwarf emission is seven orders of magnitude weaker than pulses emitted by ASKAP J1831-0911, and polarized in a way we don't see from the mystery object. It remains to be seen whether other LPTs can emit X-radiation in addition to their radio signals, and, if they do, how common the behavior is. It's also possible that ASKAP J1831-0911 is a different kind of object from the other LPTs, but it's more exciting if it's a variation on the theme, since the presence of X-rays means any explanation needs to take them into account. That could help rule out some options, the researchers say. "Finding one such object hints at the existence of many more," says astronomer Nanda Rea of the Institute of Space Science and the Catalan Institute for Space Studies in Spain. "The discovery of its transient X-ray emission opens fresh insights into their mysterious nature." The research has been published in Nature. SpaceX Starship's Latest Test Ends in Destruction Over Indian Ocean Star Caught Orbiting Inside Another Star in Bizarre First JWST's Deepest Gaze at a Single Spot in Space Reveals Ancient Wonders
West Australian
6 days ago
- Science
- West Australian
WA astronomers find mystery object 15,000 light-years from Earth that science can't explain
WA astronomers have discovered a mysterious cosmic phenomenon 15,000 light-years from Earth that science is unable to fully explain, and it took a little luck to do so. Using CSIRO's ASKAP telescope in the Murchison region, astronomers at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research detected an object within our Milky Way galaxy emitting radio waves for two minutes at 44-minute intervals. Previous observations of these so-called long-period transients had not detected simultaneous X-ray emissions, but this was confirmed by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was serendipitously observing the same part of the sky. Lead astronomer Dr Ziteng Wang from ICRAR's Curtin University node said it was fortuitous the NASA observatory had been trained on the same patch of space, but scientists had less luck explaining the phenomenon. 'These kinds of things are still a mystery,' Dr Wang said. But he does have a theory or two. 'The first one is that this is a highly magnetised neutron star, which is the remnant of a massive star and it has a very strong magnetic field, and it could potentially emit radio waves and X-rays at the same time,' he said. 'And the second one is a white dwarf star in a binary system, and, as they orbit each other, that could also produce this kind of radio waves and X-rays.' Regardless of the explanation for the exotic behaviour of the object designated ASKAP J1832-0911, the task now is finding more of them. Dr Wang said doing so 'could indicate a new type of physics or new models of stellar evolution'. The research was published in the Nature journal.
