Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory Science Newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific advances and more.
CNN
–
Astronomers detected an astonishing celestial object that lasted for two minutes and emitted bright flashes of radio waves and x-rays that were repeated every 44 minutes.
With a fresh twist, the findings show that strong X-rays are associated with objects that may be long-term transient for the first time. Astronomers first discovered this mysterious new class of objects in 2022, but less than a dozen have been found so far.
“Long-term (radio) transients (LPT) are recently identified classes of space objects that emit bright flashes of radio waves every few minutes to hours,” said Dr Andy Wang, associate lecturer at Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy in Australia. “What are these objects and how they produce unusual signals remains a mystery.”
The object named Askap J1832-0911 is located approximately 15,000 light years from Earth, the same galaxy as the solar system.
X-ray emissions revealed by NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory could be key to help astronomers understand more about the true nature of these interesting cosmic objects and their pulsating behavior.
“X-rays usually come from very hot and energetic environments, so their presence suggests something dramatic has happened to the object,” said Wang, lead author of a study reporting observations published in Journal Nature on Wednesday.
Long-term transients appear to be more energetic than previously thought to be able to produce X-rays with more energy than radio waves, Wang said.
Currently, researchers are trying to find the cause of radio waves and x-rays in Askap J1832-0911 that do not fit in a neat box due to classification.
First, the team thought that the object was a magnet, or a dense remaining remnant of a star with a very strong magnetic field, or a pair of stars containing highly magnetized dead stars called white d stars. But neither of these matched the bright, variable emissions of radio waves or X-rays at all, the researchers said.
“This object is different from what we saw before,” the king said. “Even these theories do not fully explain what we are observing. This finding may indicate a new type of physics or new model of stellar evolution.”
Astronomers have tracked the previous detection of a long-term temporary transition, announced in March, to a white dwarf closely orbiting the small, cool red star. The two stars are in orbit with each other so closely that the magnetic fields interact and emit long radio bursts.
The researchers detect visible and infrared signals corresponding to the observed signals, suggesting that they could belong to two different types of objects. Wang’s team did not make such an observation of Askap J1832-0911, he said.
Charlie Kilpatrick, co-author of the March study, is called The New Find “Exciting.” He did not participate in any new research.
“The nature of this source bridges the gap between the most extreme magnets and the white dwarfs, written by Kilpatrick, an assistant research professor at the Illinois Center for Astrophysics.
Wang said future x-ray observations could reveal more about the object, including the temperature and size that researchers can use to determine the source. However, the new detection has already changed the way Wang and his collaborators think about long-term transient signals.
Radio astronomers regularly scan the skies using the Australia Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder or Askap in Wajaliyamaji Country, Western Australia, and are run by the Australian Federal Institute of Scientific and Industry (CSIRO).
Wang and his collaborators first picked up a bright signal from the object in December 2023. The object then emitted a pulse of very bright radio waves in February 2024.
By chance, the Chandra X-ray Observatory pointed to something else, but once caught X-ray observations in the “crazy” bright stages of long-term transitions, Wang said.
“When I discovered Askap J1832-0911 emitted x-rays, it felt like I was finding a needle in the haystack,” Wang said. “Askap Radio Telescope has a wide field view of the night sky, but Chandra only observes a small portion of it. So we were fortunate that Chandra observed the same area of the same night sky at the same time.”
Unlike the rapidly rotating neutron stars called pulsars that emit pulses from the last millisecond to a few seconds, Askap J1832-0911 regularly differs in radio waves and X-ray intensity every 44 minutes. The object also fell with X-ray and radio wave intensity. No x-rays were shown in observations made by Chandra six months later in August 2024.
The team also used Craco, or Coherent Radio Astronomy Core, Instrument, which was recently developed to detect mysterious high-speed radio bursts, or millisecond flashes of radio waves, and other heavenly phenomena. The instrument scans and processes data quickly to find bursts and zeroes its location.
“This is equivalent to sifting through an entire sandy beach and searching for one five-cent coin per minute,” said Dr. Keith Bannister, an astronomer and engineer at CSIRO.
However, Craco was also able to detect long radio pulses, helping the team determine that a burst of radio waves was being repeated. Other observations showed that X-rays were also repeated.
Data from telescopes in the US, South Africa and India and collaborators around the world have made extremely rare detection a truly global effort, Wang said.
As they move forward, Wang and his team continue to search for more objects that emit these long radio pulses.
“Finding one such object suggests the existence of more,” Dr Nandarea, a professor at the Institute of Space Sciences and professor at the Institute of Catalonia Space Research in Spain, said in a statement. “The discovery of their temporary X-ray emissions opens up new insight into their mystical nature.”