Latest news with #longperiodtransients
Sustainability Times
20-07-2025
- Science
- Sustainability Times
Undeniable Signal From the Unknown: CHIME Reveals Spinning Radio Object Behaving Unlike Anything Ever Observed
IN A NUTSHELL 🌌 An international team of astronomers discovered CHIME J1634+44 , a unique radio-emitting celestial object. , a unique radio-emitting celestial object. 🌀 This object has an exceptionally slow spin period of 841 seconds and shows signs of accelerating rotation . and shows signs of . 🔭 The discovery was made using the CHIME/FRB Pulsar Survey , which monitors the sky with high sensitivity. , which monitors the sky with high sensitivity. 🧩 CHIME J1634+44 could redefine our understanding of long-period transients and challenge existing astrophysical models. In a groundbreaking discovery, astronomers have detected a mysterious radio-emitting celestial object that defies current astrophysical understanding. This revelation, brought to light by the CHIME/FRB Pulsar Survey, introduces a unique cosmic entity that could challenge and expand our comprehension of long-period radio transients. Known as CHIME J1634+44, this extraordinary object not only spins at an unusually slow pace but also exhibits a rare phenomenon of accelerating rotation. Such an object has never been observed before, making this discovery a beacon for future astronomical research and exploration. A Signal with an 841-Second Beat and a Unique Pulse Structure The enigmatic CHIME J1634+44 impresses with its remarkable spin period of 841 seconds, placing it among the slowest-rotating radio emitters ever documented. Even more intriguing is its secondary periodicity of 4,206 seconds, suggesting a possible interaction with a companion object, likely through gravitational or material dynamics. Since its discovery in October 2022, CHIME J1634+44 has been observed experiencing reactivation bursts, totaling an impressive 89 unique bursts over a span of 4.5 years. This object stands out because of its consistent emission of fully circularly polarized radio bursts, a rarity among long-period emitters. Such characteristics imply that CHIME J1634+44 might not be a typical slow-rotating pulsar but rather something more exotic. It could potentially be a magnetic white dwarf, a magnetar, or an entirely new form of celestial object. This opens up exciting possibilities for scientists to explore and understand the nature of such cosmic phenomena. 'They Built Them by the Water!': New Study Uncovers Lost Nile Branch That Once Guided the Construction of the Egyptian Pyramids A Discovery Born from High-Precision Sky Monitoring The revelation of CHIME J1634+44 was made possible by the CHIME/FRB single-pulse pulsar survey, which utilizes an advanced triggering algorithm to isolate signals within the Milky Way based on dispersion measures (DM). The researchers, as documented in their study, meticulously used the CHIME/FRB trigger criteria for all sources with a DM low enough to be considered within the Milky Way galaxy, according to both the NE2001 and the YMW16 DM models. The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) has been pivotal in uncovering a wide array of transient radio phenomena, ranging from fast radio bursts (FRBs) to more slowly varying emitters like CHIME J1634+44. Its capability to monitor vast sections of the sky with high sensitivity and temporal resolution is ideal for detecting these elusive, low-frequency signals, making CHIME an essential tool in the study of cosmic radio transients. 'They Can See Us Even in Silence': China's New Magnetic Wake Tech Shatters Submarine Stealth in Shallow Waters Like the Taiwan Strait Acceleration in Spin Suggests Powerful Forces at Play A particularly unusual characteristic of CHIME J1634+44 is its accelerating spin, marked by a negative period derivative of approximately −9.03 seconds per second. This finding is unexpected, as known neutron stars or pulsars typically exhibit spin-down behavior due to energy loss through radiation or winds. The observed spin-up suggests either material accretion from a companion star or possibly energy injection via gravitational wave radiation. If confirmed, this would make CHIME J1634+44 the first known long-period transient to exhibit such spin behavior, challenging current theoretical models and paving the way for new insights into angular momentum transfer in extreme astrophysical systems. This discovery could significantly alter our understanding of how these cosmic entities function and evolve, providing a fresh perspective on traditional pulsar mechanics. 'They Can Dodge Anything We Throw at Them': China's Secret Algorithm Outsmarts Even America's Most Advanced Hypersonic Defenses A Key to Unraveling the Long-Period Transient Puzzle Long-period transients remain among the least understood types of radio sources. Their origins, emission mechanisms, and evolutionary pathways are largely speculative. The unique attributes of CHIME J1634+44 may hold the key to unraveling the mysteries surrounding this enigmatic class of astrophysical phenomena. The researchers emphasize the scientific potential of CHIME J1634+44, describing it as an important test bed for long-period transient emission theories. Its distinctive traits—particularly the combination of long periodicity, spin acceleration, and circular polarization—set it apart from the known neutron star and magnetar populations. If ongoing and future observations can clarify the mechanisms behind its emissions, they may help astrophysicists distinguish between competing origin models and inspire new theoretical frameworks. This discovery not only poses new questions about the nature of cosmic radio emitters but also challenges existing paradigms in astrophysics. As researchers continue to study CHIME J1634+44, they are likely to uncover insights that may redefine our understanding of the universe. What other cosmic mysteries lie hidden, waiting to be discovered through the eyes of advanced astronomical technology? This article is based on verified sources and supported by editorial technologies. Did you like it? 4.5/5 (20)
CNN
28-05-2025
- General
- CNN
Astronomers spot bright flashes from a mysterious new class of cosmic object
Astronomers have detected an astonishing celestial object emitting bright flashes of radio waves and X-rays that last for two minutes and repeat every 44 minutes. In a fresh twist, the discovery marks the first time powerful X-rays have been associated with an object that might be a long-period transient. Astronomers first spotted this cryptic new class of objects in 2022, and fewer than a dozen have been found so far. 'Long-period (radio) transients (LPTs) are a recently identified class of cosmic objects that emit bright flashes of radio waves every few minutes to several hours,' said Dr. Andy Wang, an associate lecturer at the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy in Australia, in an email. 'What these objects are, and how they generate their unusual signals, remain a mystery.' The object, named ASKAP J1832-0911, is located about 15,000 light-years from Earth in the same galaxy as our solar system. The X-ray emissions, uncovered by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, could be the key to helping astronomers understand more about the true nature of these intriguing cosmic objects and their pulsing behavior. 'X-rays usually come from extremely hot and energetic environments, so their presence suggests that something dramatic happened to the object,' said Wang, lead author of a study reporting the observations, which was published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The long-period transients appear to be more energetic than previously believed if they can produce X-rays, which have more energy than radio waves, Wang said. Now, researchers are trying to figure out the source of ASKAP J1832-0911's radio waves and X-rays, which don't fit into a neat box for categorization, and whether it's truly representative of a long-period transient or an eccentric outlier. At first, the team thought the object might be a magnetar, or the dense remnant of a star with an extremely powerful magnetic field, or a pair of stars that includes a highly magnetized dead star called a white dwarf. But neither of those quite matched up with the bright and variable emissions of radio waves and X-rays, the researchers said. 'This object is unlike anything we have seen before,' Wang said. '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.' Astronomers traced a previous detection of a long-period transient, announced in March, to a white dwarf that's closely orbiting a small, cool red dwarf star. The two stars orbit each other so closely that their magnetic fields interact, emitting long radio bursts. In that study, researchers detected signals in visible and infrared light that corresponded with the signals they observed, suggesting they could belong to two different types of objects. Wang's team made no such observations of ASKAP J1832-0911, he said. Charlie Kilpatrick, coauthor of the March study, called the new find 'exciting.' He did not participate in the new research. 'The nature of this source bridges the gap between the most extreme magnetars and white dwarfs, which is telling us just how extreme (these) compact objects can be,' wrote Kilpatrick, research assistant professor at Northwestern University's Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics in Illinois, in an email. Wang said future X-ray observations may reveal more about the object, such as its temperature and size, which researchers could use to determine the source. But the new detections are already changing the way Wang and his collaborators think about long-period transient signals. Radio astronomers regularly scan the sky using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, or ASKAP, located in Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia and operated by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, or CSIRO. Wang and his collaborators first picked up on a bright signal from the object in December 2023. Then, the object released extremely bright pulses of radio waves in February 2024. Fewer than 30 known objects in the sky have ever reached such brightness in radio waves, Wang said. By coincidence, the Chandra X-ray Observatory was pointing at something else, but it happened to catch X-ray observations of the 'crazy' bright phase of the long-period transient, Wang said. 'Discovering that ASKAP J1832-0911 was emitting X-rays felt like finding a needle in a haystack,' Wang said. '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.' Unlike rapidly spinning neutron stars called pulsars, which release pulses that last milliseconds to seconds, ASKAP J1832-0911 periodically varied in radio wave and X-ray intensity every 44 minutes. The object also dropped off in X-ray and radio wave intensity. Observations taken by Chandra six months later in August 2024 showed no X-rays. The team also used the CRACO, or Coherent Radio Astronomy Core, instrument, which was recently developed to detect mysterious fast radio bursts, or millisecond-long flashes of radio waves, and other celestial phenomena. The instrument can rapidly scan and process data to spot bursts and zero in on their location. 'That's the equivalent of sifting through a whole beach of sand to look for a single five-cent coin every minute,' said Dr. Keith Bannister, a CSIRO astronomer and engineer who helped develop the instrument. But CRACO is also able to detect long radio pulses and helped the team determine that the bursts of radio waves were repeating. Other observations showed that the X-rays were repeating as well. Data from telescopes in the United States, South Africa and India and collaborators from around the world made the extremely rare detection a truly global effort, Wang said. Moving forward, Wang and his team will continue searching for more objects emitting these long radio pulses. 'Finding one such object hints at the existence of many more,' said study coauthor Dr. Nanda Rea, a professor at the Institute of Space Science and The Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia in Spain, in a statement. 'The discovery of its transient X-ray emission opens fresh insights into their mysterious nature.'
CNN
28-05-2025
- General
- CNN
Astronomers spot bright flashes from a mysterious new class of cosmic object
Astronomers have detected an astonishing celestial object emitting bright flashes of radio waves and X-rays that last for two minutes and repeat every 44 minutes. In a fresh twist, the discovery marks the first time powerful X-rays have been associated with an object that might be a long-period transient. Astronomers first spotted this cryptic new class of objects in 2022, and fewer than a dozen have been found so far. 'Long-period (radio) transients (LPTs) are a recently identified class of cosmic objects that emit bright flashes of radio waves every few minutes to several hours,' said Dr. Andy Wang, an associate lecturer at the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy in Australia, in an email. 'What these objects are, and how they generate their unusual signals, remain a mystery.' The object, named ASKAP J1832-0911, is located about 15,000 light-years from Earth in the same galaxy as our solar system. The X-ray emissions, uncovered by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, could be the key to helping astronomers understand more about the true nature of these intriguing cosmic objects and their pulsing behavior. 'X-rays usually come from extremely hot and energetic environments, so their presence suggests that something dramatic happened to the object,' said Wang, lead author of a study reporting the observations, which was published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The long-period transients appear to be more energetic than previously believed if they can produce X-rays, which have more energy than radio waves, Wang said. Now, researchers are trying to figure out the source of ASKAP J1832-0911's radio waves and X-rays, which don't fit into a neat box for categorization, and whether it's truly representative of a long-period transient or an eccentric outlier. At first, the team thought the object might be a magnetar, or the dense remnant of a star with an extremely powerful magnetic field, or a pair of stars that includes a highly magnetized dead star called a white dwarf. But neither of those quite matched up with the bright and variable emissions of radio waves and X-rays, the researchers said. 'This object is unlike anything we have seen before,' Wang said. '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.' Astronomers traced a previous detection of a long-period transient, announced in March, to a white dwarf that's closely orbiting a small, cool red dwarf star. The two stars orbit each other so closely that their magnetic fields interact, emitting long radio bursts. In that study, researchers detected signals in visible and infrared light that corresponded with the signals they observed, suggesting they could belong to two different types of objects. Wang's team made no such observations of ASKAP J1832-0911, he said. Charlie Kilpatrick, coauthor of the March study, called the new find 'exciting.' He did not participate in the new research. 'The nature of this source bridges the gap between the most extreme magnetars and white dwarfs, which is telling us just how extreme (these) compact objects can be,' wrote Kilpatrick, research assistant professor at Northwestern University's Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics in Illinois, in an email. Wang said future X-ray observations may reveal more about the object, such as its temperature and size, which researchers could use to determine the source. But the new detections are already changing the way Wang and his collaborators think about long-period transient signals. Radio astronomers regularly scan the sky using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, or ASKAP, located in Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia and operated by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, or CSIRO. Wang and his collaborators first picked up on a bright signal from the object in December 2023. Then, the object released extremely bright pulses of radio waves in February 2024. Fewer than 30 known objects in the sky have ever reached such brightness in radio waves, Wang said. By coincidence, the Chandra X-ray Observatory was pointing at something else, but it happened to catch X-ray observations of the 'crazy' bright phase of the long-period transient, Wang said. 'Discovering that ASKAP J1832-0911 was emitting X-rays felt like finding a needle in a haystack,' Wang said. '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.' Unlike rapidly spinning neutron stars called pulsars, which release pulses that last milliseconds to seconds, ASKAP J1832-0911 periodically varied in radio wave and X-ray intensity every 44 minutes. The object also dropped off in X-ray and radio wave intensity. Observations taken by Chandra six months later in August 2024 showed no X-rays. The team also used the CRACO, or Coherent Radio Astronomy Core, instrument, which was recently developed to detect mysterious fast radio bursts, or millisecond-long flashes of radio waves, and other celestial phenomena. The instrument can rapidly scan and process data to spot bursts and zero in on their location. 'That's the equivalent of sifting through a whole beach of sand to look for a single five-cent coin every minute,' said Dr. Keith Bannister, a CSIRO astronomer and engineer who helped develop the instrument. But CRACO is also able to detect long radio pulses and helped the team determine that the bursts of radio waves were repeating. Other observations showed that the X-rays were repeating as well. Data from telescopes in the United States, South Africa and India and collaborators from around the world made the extremely rare detection a truly global effort, Wang said. Moving forward, Wang and his team will continue searching for more objects emitting these long radio pulses. 'Finding one such object hints at the existence of many more,' said study coauthor Dr. Nanda Rea, a professor at the Institute of Space Science and The Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia in Spain, in a statement. 'The discovery of its transient X-ray emission opens fresh insights into their mysterious nature.'
CNN
28-05-2025
- General
- CNN
Astronomers spot bright flashes from a mysterious new class of cosmic object
Astronomers have detected an astonishing celestial object emitting bright flashes of radio waves and X-rays that last for two minutes and repeat every 44 minutes. In a fresh twist, the discovery marks the first time powerful X-rays have been associated with an object that might be a long-period transient. Astronomers first spotted this cryptic new class of objects in 2022, and fewer than a dozen have been found so far. 'Long-period (radio) transients (LPTs) are a recently identified class of cosmic objects that emit bright flashes of radio waves every few minutes to several hours,' said Dr. Andy Wang, an associate lecturer at the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy in Australia, in an email. 'What these objects are, and how they generate their unusual signals, remain a mystery.' The object, named ASKAP J1832-0911, is located about 15,000 light-years from Earth in the same galaxy as our solar system. The X-ray emissions, uncovered by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, could be the key to helping astronomers understand more about the true nature of these intriguing cosmic objects and their pulsing behavior. 'X-rays usually come from extremely hot and energetic environments, so their presence suggests that something dramatic happened to the object,' said Wang, lead author of a study reporting the observations, which was published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The long-period transients appear to be more energetic than previously believed if they can produce X-rays, which have more energy than radio waves, Wang said. Now, researchers are trying to figure out the source of ASKAP J1832-0911's radio waves and X-rays, which don't fit into a neat box for categorization, and whether it's truly representative of a long-period transient or an eccentric outlier. At first, the team thought the object might be a magnetar, or the dense remnant of a star with an extremely powerful magnetic field, or a pair of stars that includes a highly magnetized dead star called a white dwarf. But neither of those quite matched up with the bright and variable emissions of radio waves and X-rays, the researchers said. 'This object is unlike anything we have seen before,' Wang said. '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.' Astronomers traced a previous detection of a long-period transient, announced in March, to a white dwarf that's closely orbiting a small, cool red dwarf star. The two stars orbit each other so closely that their magnetic fields interact, emitting long radio bursts. In that study, researchers detected signals in visible and infrared light that corresponded with the signals they observed, suggesting they could belong to two different types of objects. Wang's team made no such observations of ASKAP J1832-0911, he said. Charlie Kilpatrick, coauthor of the March study, called the new find 'exciting.' He did not participate in the new research. 'The nature of this source bridges the gap between the most extreme magnetars and white dwarfs, which is telling us just how extreme (these) compact objects can be,' wrote Kilpatrick, research assistant professor at Northwestern University's Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics in Illinois, in an email. Wang said future X-ray observations may reveal more about the object, such as its temperature and size, which researchers could use to determine the source. But the new detections are already changing the way Wang and his collaborators think about long-period transient signals. Radio astronomers regularly scan the sky using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, or ASKAP, located in Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia and operated by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, or CSIRO. Wang and his collaborators first picked up on a bright signal from the object in December 2023. Then, the object released extremely bright pulses of radio waves in February 2024. Fewer than 30 known objects in the sky have ever reached such brightness in radio waves, Wang said. By coincidence, the Chandra X-ray Observatory was pointing at something else, but it happened to catch X-ray observations of the 'crazy' bright phase of the long-period transient, Wang said. 'Discovering that ASKAP J1832-0911 was emitting X-rays felt like finding a needle in a haystack,' Wang said. '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.' Unlike rapidly spinning neutron stars called pulsars, which release pulses that last milliseconds to seconds, ASKAP J1832-0911 periodically varied in radio wave and X-ray intensity every 44 minutes. The object also dropped off in X-ray and radio wave intensity. Observations taken by Chandra six months later in August 2024 showed no X-rays. The team also used the CRACO, or Coherent Radio Astronomy Core, instrument, which was recently developed to detect mysterious fast radio bursts, or millisecond-long flashes of radio waves, and other celestial phenomena. The instrument can rapidly scan and process data to spot bursts and zero in on their location. 'That's the equivalent of sifting through a whole beach of sand to look for a single five-cent coin every minute,' said Dr. Keith Bannister, a CSIRO astronomer and engineer who helped develop the instrument. But CRACO is also able to detect long radio pulses and helped the team determine that the bursts of radio waves were repeating. Other observations showed that the X-rays were repeating as well. Data from telescopes in the United States, South Africa and India and collaborators from around the world made the extremely rare detection a truly global effort, Wang said. Moving forward, Wang and his team will continue searching for more objects emitting these long radio pulses. 'Finding one such object hints at the existence of many more,' said study coauthor Dr. Nanda Rea, a professor at the Institute of Space Science and The Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia in Spain, in a statement. 'The discovery of its transient X-ray emission opens fresh insights into their mysterious nature.'
