Latest news with #ASKAPJ1832
BBC News
06-06-2025
- Science
- BBC News
ASKAP J1832: Scientists discovers mysterious pulsating star in space
Scientists say they've spotted a mysterious object in space behaving in a very strange star, which has been named ASKAP J1832, is acting unlike anything seen before, according to Nasa around 15,000 light years from Earth, it is pulsing every 44 even more strange is that it is doing it with both radio waves and X-rays. What did scientists find? A team of astronomers looked at data from Nasa's space-based Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope in Australia to study the discovered object, which has been called ASKAP found that the star belongs to a class of objects called "long period radio transients" - that means it sends out radio waves of different levels over tens of minutes - in this case every 44 they also found that it is also sending X-rays every 44 minutes to Nasa, this combination of factors is "unlike anything astronomers have seen in the Milky Way galaxy."Experts are trying to work out what type of object ASKAP J1832, however they think it might be one of two could be a magnetar - which is a neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field, with an age of more than half a million it could also be possibly an unusual white dwarf star which has a companion star.
NDTV
01-06-2025
- Science
- NDTV
Astronomers Detect Mysterious Deep Space Object Emitting Strange Signals
In a discovery that has left scientists baffled, astronomers have identified a mysterious object in deep space that emits regular bursts of radio waves and X-rays, unlike anything previously observed. The object, named ASKAP J1832- 0911, was first detected by Australia's Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope and later confirmed by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, one of the most advanced space-based X-ray telescopes in operation. According to a new study published in the journal Nature, the object releases intense signals for two minutes every 44 minutes - a highly unusual pattern that does not fit existing models of known cosmic bodies. "It is unlike anything we have seen before," said lead researcher Andy Wang from Curtin University in Australia. ASKAP J1832-0911 has been classified as a "long-period transient" (LPT) - a rare type of cosmic source that emits bursts of energy at long and regular intervals. Researchers suspect the object could be a magnetar - a highly magnetised remnant of a dead star - or perhaps part of a binary system involving a magnetised white dwarf. However, the precise nature of the signals remains unexplained. "Even the most likely explanations don't fully account for what we are observing," Wang noted, adding that the discovery could hint at new astrophysical phenomena or previously unknown stages of stellar evolution. The team now hopes to find similar objects using a combination of radio and X-ray telescopes, which could shed light on the mysterious behaviour of such long-period transients. The discovery comes amid a string of recent breakthroughs in space science. Earlier this month, scientists reported what they believe could be potential signs of life on an exoplanet, based on signals that may indicate biological activity - another finding that has stirred excitement and debate in the scientific community.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- 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
30-05-2025
- 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
30-05-2025
- 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
