Scientists are observing a mysterious object in the Milky Way galaxy that
releases huge bursts of radio energy, at least every 18 minutes. According
to them, this strange phenomenon has never been seen before.
Previously, objects that emitted energy into the universe were often
documented by scientists. However, this energy that could burn for one
minute was something unusual.
"This object appeared and disappeared for several hours during our
observations," said Natasha Hurley-Walker of the International Center for
Radio Astronomy Research. Hurley-Walker had no idea because this phenomenon
was a bit scary for astronomers.
According to him, there is no object in the sky that can release energy of
that magnitude until it is detected on Earth.
"The object is very close to us, about 4,000 light years away," he
continued. A student at Curtin University named Tyrone O'Doherty was the
first to witness the object, using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA)
telescope in outback Western Australia.
"This is very interesting because the source I identified last year turned
out to be a strange object," said O'Doherty.
He added that the MWA telescope has high sensitivity to observe the entire
sky and detect unexpected things, such as mysterious objects that can
release such energy.
In a report published in the journal Nature on Thursday, scientists suspect
that the object may be a neutron star or white dwarf, a small star that has
lost its light and has a very strong magnetic field.
This object, they say, rotates so rapidly in space that its radiation
radiates toward Earth three times per hour.
On the other hand, scientists also explain, that there are various different
objects in space that turn off and then turn on, known as transients. This
object may also have come from a pulsar, a solid object shaped like a ball
that glows very brightly but is smaller than the sun.
Transients may also come from supernovae that appear for several days,
before finally disappearing again.
"This is a kind of spinning neutron star, which has been predicted to exist
theoretically. But no one expected to detect this right away because we
didn't expect the object to be so bright," said Dr Hurley-Walker.
Furthermore, he said that it is still unknown how the mysterious object
converts magnetic energy into radio waves that have never been observed
before.
Scientists are currently observing the region and will analyze the archived
observations from the MWA telescope to see if there have been other examples
of such objects in the past.
"More detections will tell astronomers whether this is a rare, one-time
event or a large object we haven't noticed before," said Hurley-Walker.
