Latest news with #ChandraX-RayObservatory
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Something Deep in Our Galaxy Is Pulsing Every 44 Minutes. No One Knows Why.
Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: ASKAP J1832-0911 is a long-period radio transient (LPT) object, which emits radio waves in periods of tens of minutes. But it is also the first LPT known to emit X-rays. This mysterious object could take many forms, including a pulsar, a white dwarf star in a binary with a low-mass star, or a magnetar. The object's properties don't exactly fit with any of those proposed options, however. Deep in the galactic plane of the Milky Way, within a region of stars shrouded in gas and dust, one star is behaving like no other that has ever been observed before. Stars can be as mysterious as they are mesmerizing. When scientists at NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory were making observations with the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) X-ray imaging instrument, something bizarre appeared—a previously unidentified source of X-rays. Intense X-ray and radio pulses were coming from this source, which is known as ASKAP J1832-0911. This extreme object is a long-period radio transient, or LPT—an astrophysical object whose brightness keeps changing. Few long-period radio transients, whose radio wave emissions vary over tens of minutes, are known. In fact, the first one was only spotted in 2022. The radio wave intensity of ASKAP J1832-0911 cycled every 44 minutes, and was exceptionally bright in radio at the time of observation. Most excitingly for scientists, LPTs had never before been observed emitting both X-rays and radio waves. Astronomer Ziteng Wang from Curtin University in Australia—who led the team of researchers investigating ASKAP J1832-0911—wanted to find out more. The object was observed six months later with ACIS and the Follow-Up Telescope on board ESA's Einstein Probe. By then, its X-ray luminosity had decreased, and so had its radio emissions. But its existence alone is a breakthrough in itself. 'ASKAP J1832–0911 is currently the only LPT detected with (pulsed) X-ray emission — perhaps unsurprisingly, given its extreme radio brightness and the potential correlation between the radio and X-ray luminosities,' Wang and his team said in a study recently published in Nature. This object is thought to be some sort of star, but exactly what kind of star remains debatable. The researchers believe ASKAP J1832–0911 to be compact and to have strong magnetic fields, which would align with the properties of either a magnetic white dwarf (the corpse of a star that has lost its outer layers of gas) or a pulsar (a rotating neutron star that is highly magnetized). But then, there is the issue of its unprecedented pulses. Its X-ray pulses alone are too variable to line up with the steady flash of a pulsar, and X-ray emissions from white dwarves also tend to be fainter and more stable than those produced by ASKAP J1832–0911. So, if it isn't a pulsar or white dwarf, then what is it? Well, it might be a binary white dwarf system—fast-spinning white dwarfs are sometimes found locked in binary systems with other low-mass stars. The radio emissions from these binaries are usually significantly weaker than those from ASKAP J1832–0911, but Wang suggests that the situation remains possible. If not a binary white dwarf system, however, ASKAP J1832–0911 could be a magnetar. These isolated neutron stars have powerful magnetic fields, and the mystery object's properties (including varied pulses and a radio spectrum that is constantly changing)are in line with those of magnetars that emit strong radio waves. Magnetars also throw 'tantrums' with similar X-ray outbursts. But ASKAP J1832–0911 also differs from the typical presentation of magnetars—its quiescent X-ray luminosity (the opposite of its peak luminosity) doesn't line up with expected magnetar behavior, and its especially low luminosity when its rotation slows down doesn't match either. Older magentars are thought to act more like this, but cannot reach such bright radio extremes as ASKAP J1832–0911. 'It could host an unusual core-dominated magnetic field […] requiring a revision to models of magnetic field evolution in neutron stars,' Wang said. 'If ASKAP J1832–0911 is an old magnetar, explaining the radio emission challenges existent models.' Whatever ASKAP J1832–0911 actually is, classifying it will demand consideration of the strength and frequency of both X-ray and radio emissions. For now, it just winks at us. You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
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.'
Newsweek
09-05-2025
- Science
- Newsweek
'Space Jaws': NASA Reveals Roaming Monster Black Hole That's Eating Stars
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the cosmos, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a terrifying, roving, oft-invisible monster dubbed "Space Jaws." Lurking 600 million light-years away, the supermassive black hole—which has the same mass as some 1 million suns—betrayed its presence when it was caught shredding and then devouring a poor star that got too close. Dubbed AT2024tvd, the burst of radiation from this "tidal disruption event" (TDE) was also picked up by NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array in New Mexico and Caltech's Palomar Observatory. Together, the observations revealed that this TDE is unique among the 100-odd detected to date—as it doesn't appear to come from the core of the black hole's host galaxy. An artist's impression of a supermassive black hole devouring a star. An artist's impression of a supermassive black hole devouring a star. NASA, ESA, STScI, Ralf Crawford STScI "Theorists have predicted that a population of massive black holes located away from the centers of galaxies must exist, but now we can use TDEs to find them," said paper author and astronomer professor Ryan Chornock of the University of California, Berkeley explained in a statement. "AT2024tvd is the first offset TVD captured by optical sky surveys and it open up the entire possibility of uncovering this elusive population of wandering black holes with future sky surveys," added paper lead and UC Berkeley astrophysicist Yuhan Yao. Yao added: "Right now, theorists haven't given much attention to offset TDEs. I think this discovery will motivate scientists to look for more examples of this type of event." The galaxy (orange) and the tidal disruption event (blue) as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The galaxy (orange) and the tidal disruption event (blue) as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. NASA, ESA, STScI, Yuhan Yao UC Berkeley); Joseph DePasquale (STScI In AT2024tvd's host galaxy, there is a second, larger black hole in the galactic core—one weighing some 100 million times the mass of the sun. Despite being in the same galaxy, the two supermassive holes are not bound together as a gravitational pair. At present, the two black holes are separated by only around 2,600 light-years (roughly one-tenth of the distance between Earth and Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way's central black hole), with the smaller hole moving around the host galaxy's bulge. In the future, the smaller black hole may spiral into its larger peer, resulting in the two merging together. As to how the smaller black hole got so far off-center—it is possible that there were originally three black holes in the galaxy's core, and the other two kicked the runt out of the litter. This, Yao says, would explain the roaming black hole's current positioning. She explained: "If the black hole went through a triple interaction with two other black holes in the galaxy's core, it can still remain bound to the galaxy, orbiting around the central region." Alternatively, it is possible that the smaller black hole was once at the center of another, smaller galaxy that collided with the host galaxy at least a billion years ago. Paper co-author and astronomer Erica Hammerstein, also of UC Berkeley, did not find any evidence of a past galaxy merger in Hubble's images of the galaxy. However, she said: "There is already good evidence that galaxy mergers enhance TDE rates, but the presence of a second black hole in AT2024tvd's host galaxy means that at some point in this galaxy's past, a merger must have happened." The full findings of the study will be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about black holes? Let us know via science@
Time of India
09-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
NASA's Hubble detects a massive black hole wandering outside its galaxy
Source: NASA Hidden 600 million light-years away in the vastness of space from our naked eye sight lies a sneaky giant that's eating up any unsuspecting star that ventures too close. This black hole made everyone remember its presence in a flashy tidal disruption event (TDE), tearing apart and consuming an unsuspecting star, emitting a huge blast of radiation. These TDEs are excellent tests of black hole behavior, giving us a glimpse into the brutal environment when a black hole is accreting. Operation Sindoor IPL 2025 suspended as India-Pakistan tensions escalate Pakistan appeals for loans citing 'heavy losses', later says X account hacked Can Pakistan afford a war with India? Here's a reality check The radiation produced is bright enough that it can be detected by telescopes, lighting up the otherwise black space. Hubble detects first tidal event from a rogue supermassive black hole The latest TDE, AT2024tvd, was noticed by an assortment of telescopes, headed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope . This sighting was a revelation for astronomers, as it verified the presence of a rogue supermassive black hole . Verification by corroborating evidence acquired by the NASA Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the NRAO Very Large Array telescope showed that the black hole was not resting at the center of the galaxy, where such things normally reside. Instead, it was at some distance from the galactic center. As the star is drawn in during TDE, it is sucked into the black hole's powerful gravitational pull, stretched out like spaghetti—a process known as "spaghettification." The remains of the star are then drawn into an accretion disk, where it disintegrates very rapidly, emitting high-energy radiation. This effect can be observed in a range of wavelengths of light, from ultraviolet to X-rays. Here, the AT2024tvd TDE is historic because it records the first time that a tidal disruption event occurred away from the center of the galaxy. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 2025: Steel Suppliers From Mexico At Lowest Prices (Take A Look) Steel Suppliers | search ads Search Now Undo Hubble reveals tidal event far from galaxy's center It is so fascinating because of the location of the black hole. Supermassive black holes were found to reside at the core of galaxies, where they have been actively consuming. But this prankster black hole is around 1 million solar masses in weight, not even close to the central supermassive black hole whose weight is around 100 million solar mass. Surprisingly, the TDE event happened around 2,600 light-years away from the center black hole, not much more than the distance of the Sun from the Milky Way center. Despite this nomadic black hole, there exists a second supermassive black hole residing in the galaxy's center. The central black hole is currently accreting gas within the area and is an active galactic nucleus. Interestingly enough, the two black holes are not gravitationally locked together, nor are they a binary system. While it is conceivable that the smaller black hole will stray towards the interior in the distant future and smash into the larger black hole, currently it is traveling on its own orbit, lost somewhere in the galaxy. How did this black hole end up here The origin of this straying black hole is not known. It is one of the factors the black hole was ejected from the galactic center because of three-body interaction, a process during which the lightest black hole in a group is ejected out of the galactic center upon an encounter. It could also be the remains of a compact galaxy that had merged and crashed into the parent galaxy a billion years ago and placed the black hole in a far-flung corner. Despite the lack of direct evidence for such a merger, it is an intriguing side to this finding. The AT2024tvd TDE is just one illustration of the ability to detect the hidden black holes in the shape of tidal disruption events. Witnessing these temporary events, the scientists can make more new observations concerning the black holes that are otherwise not visible through regular observations. As next-generation telescopes like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope come on line in the not-too-distant future, astronomers will possess ever more powerful instruments to bring to bear on the study and comprehension of these mysterious cosmic phenomena. AT2024tvd's discovery is a milestone along the way to discovering rogue black holes—and one with the power to revolutionize our understanding of galaxy formation and black hole behavior. A new age of exploration As scientists learn more about what rogue black holes are and how they fit into galactic evolution, it's guaranteed that tidal disruption events will provide a treasure trove of new data. As technology becomes faster and there are more powerful telescopes available, the universe will continue to reveal its secrets and give us a better idea of what forces mold our universe.
