According to a paper published in the latest issue of the journal Nature, astrophysicists at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) at Curtin University in Australia have found that a "ghostly" object just 4,000 light-years from Earth releases three huge bursts of energy per hour, unlike any previously observed object.
Artistic imagination of mysterious celestial bodies erupting every three hours.
Dr. Natasha Hurley-Walker, an astrophysicist at curtin University's International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Australia, reportedly led the team to make the discovery.
Honors student Tyrone O'Doherty first discovered the mysterious object using the Murchison Wide Area Array (MWA) telescope in the interior of Western Australia.
The Murchison Wide Area Array (MWA) telescope in the interior of Western Australia.
Tyrone said MWA's wide field of view and extreme sensitivity are perfect for surveying the entire sky and detecting unexpected situations. Objects that open and close instantaneously in the universe are not new, and the astronomical community calls them "transients." Some transients appear within a few days and disappear after a few months, while others turn on and off within milliseconds or seconds.
Dr. Natasha said the mysterious object could be a neutron star or a white dwarf star that is formed from the collapse of stars with a super-strong magnetic field, also known as a "magnetar." The star emits a beam of radiation as it rotates, and it is one of the brightest objects in the night sky every 20 minutes.
Observations show that it releases three huge bursts of energy per hour.
Dr Natasha said the object appearing and disappearing in a matter of hours is a bit weird for an astronomer because there are no known objects in space that can do that.
The mysterious object is in the "backyard" of the Milky Way, just 4,000 light-years from Earth.
Paper collaborator Dr. Gemma Anderson said the mysterious object was very bright, smaller than the sun, and emitted radio waves that indicated that it had an extremely strong magnetic field.
The researchers are now monitoring the object to see if it will restart and plan to look for the remains of these unusual objects in the MWA's sprawling archives.
More detection results will tell astronomers whether this is a rare one-time event or a huge new group that we have never noticed before.
Text/Nandu reporter Chen Lin