Latest news with #XrayEmission
CBS News
6 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Mysterious object spotted in our galaxy is emitting X-rays and radio waves, astronomers say
Lead scientist breaks down discovery of possible life on distant planet Astronomers have discovered a strange new object in our Milky Way. 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. X-rays and radio waves are two different types of electromagnetic radiation. The correlation in their emission patterns in this case, along with other mysterious observations, led the study's authors to characterize what they found as "unlike any known Galactic object." 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. This image shows X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (represented in blue) that have been combined with infrared data from NASA's retired Spitzer Space Telescope (cyan, light blue, teal and orange), and radio from MeerKat (red). An inset shows a more detailed view of the immediate area around this unusual object in X-ray and radio light. NASA/Chandra/Spitzer/MeerKat via AP 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 above Earth, observing some of the hottest, high-energy objects in the universe. It's the world's most powerful X-ray telescope, according to NASA. A description of the telescope on the space agency's website notes that its purpose is to allow scientists across the globe to obtain X-ray images of faraway environments, in hopes that the images may "help them understand the structure and evolution of the universe."
Forbes
6 days ago
- General
- Forbes
44-Minute Pulse From Mystery Star Baffles Scientists — What To Know
Scientists have discovered a star behaving like no other seen before, giving new clues about the ... More origin of a class of mysterious objects. This object, known as ASKAP J1832, shows regular changes in both radio wave and X-ray intensity every 44 minutes, the first time such variations have been seen for a class of objects discovered only three years ago. Scientists have discovered a unique star 15,000 light-years from the solar system that appears to pulse every 44.2 minutes. Separate data from NASA's orbital Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Square Kilometer Array radio telescope in Western Australia found the star — named ASKAP J1832 — in 2024, according to the paper published today in Nature. The star is what astronomers call a long-period radio transient, which they have detected since 2022. However, this is the first time such an object has also been observed to emit X-rays. X-ray emission is high-energy electromagnetic radiation, which Earth's atmosphere blocks. Both the radio and X-ray pulses are tightly aligned in phase, so they must be coming from the same object. 'Astronomers have looked at countless stars with all kinds of telescopes, and we've never seen one that acts this way,' said Dr Ziteng Wang, first author of the paper, from the Curtin University node at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research in Australia. 'It's thrilling to see a new type of behavior for stars.' Scientists have discovered a star behaving like no other seen before, giving new clues about the ... More origin of a class of mysterious objects. This object, known as ASKAP J1832, shows regular changes in both radio wave and X-ray intensity every 44 minutes, the first time such variations have been seen for a class of objects discovered only three years ago. Long-period radio transients vary in the intensity of their radio waves in a regular way over tens of minutes, but this is by far the longest ever found. The discovery suggests that these strange objects can be significantly more energetic than previously believed. First observed in February 2024, ASKAP J1832 dropped in intensity in both radio waves and X-rays over the following six months, becoming 1,000 times fainter by August 2024. What exactly ASKAP J1832 is remains a mystery. The transient likely harbors a compact object, possibly an ultra-magnetized white dwarf (the dense core left by a star that has exhausted its fuel) or an old magnetar (the extremely dense remnant of a star that has exploded as a supernova). However, scientists cannot fully explain either origin. 'We looked at several different possibilities involving neutron stars and white dwarfs, either in isolation or with companion stars,' said co-author Dr Nanda Rea of the Institute of Space Sciences in Barcelona, Spain. 'So far, nothing exactly matches up, but some ideas work better than others.' Scientists have discovered a star behaving like no other seen before, giving new clues about the ... More origin of a class of mysterious objects. This object, known as ASKAP J1832, shows regular changes in both radio wave and X-ray intensity every 44 minutes, the first time such variations have been seen for a class of objects discovered only three years ago. ASKAP J1832 appears to be within a supernova remnant, but the researchers think that's a coincidence, so it may not be a magnetar. It may be a white dwarf star with a companion star, but only if it had the strongest magnetic field ever known for a white dwarf. '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 – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera in Italy. Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
