Astronomers spot object unlike anything seen before

[Eldorado]

Observations of the “spooky” item showed it releasing a giant burst of energy three times an hour.

As it spins through space the strange object sends out a beam of radiation, and for one minute in every twenty minutes it is one of the brightest objects in the sky.

The researchers think the object could be a neutron star or a white dwarf – collapsed cores of stars – with an ultra-powerful magnetic field.

Astrophysicist Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker, from the Curtin University, International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Australia, led the team that made the discovery.

MSN

[pallidin]

You know, I looked-up the term "starquake", because I've never heard of it before.

Interesting stuff.

Edited January 26, 2022 by pallidin

[Grim Reaper 6]

While mapping radio waves across the universe, astronomers happened upon a celestial object releasing giant bursts of energy -- and it's unlike anything they've ever seen before. That was completely unexpected. It was kind of spooky for an astronomer because there's nothing known in the sky that does that. And it's really quite close to us -- about 4,000 light-years away. It's in our galactic backyard.

Curtin University doctoral student Tyrone O'Doherty made the unusual discovery while using the Murchison Widefield Array telescope in the outback of Western Australia. "It's exciting that the source I identified last year has turned out to be such a peculiar object," O'Doherty said in a statement. "The MWA's wide field of view and extreme sensitivity are perfect for surveying the entire sky and detecting the unexpected."

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/26/world/unusual-space-object-transient-scn/index.html

A radio transient with unusually slow periodic emission published 26 Jan 2022: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04272-x.epdf?sharing_token=6HJvGYZKrv7D1ZJ6-I3RadRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0Of-uh9vqemKMq6w79pifdqdaY5xxIT2ZG7_2UyUWitYHtn2nWAH0KN9KVH1ZPtBPCPgSZf6Ty4EKa7iES8ZIXBH06_YjrYesrZyDvG2z7FFk7GH6Ci_iZEt7qrQIy4OChAGxpoBCGzchAJ3xjZH8tWeTI131s_eOWioW3ICuJbw0I0m7v7JG7FdwLDVOOTIFQ%3D&tracking_referrer=edition.cnn.com

@zep73 @the13bats @eight bits

 

 

 

[the13bats]

Its a imperial prob,

 

[+Hammerclaw]

A Type 3 civilization navigation beacon.

[Grim Reaper 6]

1 hour ago, the13bats said:

Its a imperial prob,

 

No it’s actually a UKTU, and it’s close! Their coming to get you Bats!

Edited January 27, 2022 by Manwon Lender

[bison]

Pulsars lose energy as they spin down, over very long periods of time. One spinning this slowly might not be detectable at all, and certainly would not be expected to be very bright in radio waves, as this one is reported to be. Therefore, a new mystery to be solved!

Since the radio impulses are very wide-banded in nature, a natural astrophysical object is assumed. The energies involved are enormous. An artificial, information-conveying signal that makes efficient use of the available energy is assumed to be a narrow-banded one.

Even on Earth, though, the trend has been toward wider and wider signal bandwidths. AM radio-- 10 KiloHertz, Then FM radio-- 200 KHz, television-- 6 MegaHertz, or more.The greater the amount of information to be conveyed, the wider the signal bandwidth.

Besides this, not all artificial radio emissions are intended to convey information. Radio waves can, and have been put to a number of other uses, too. More advanced civilizations could have devised uses for them we haven't even considered.

  

[toast]

I like that!

More information including animation video, skymap, the object´s position, Q+A with Dr. Hurley-Walker and a lot more hot sht:

ICRAR

[bison]

Thanks, Toast!  I was particularly interested by the power vs, time graph of the impulses. Quite a complex waveform over the short period of just 75 seconds. Depending on the integration time, maybe even more complex than it appears. Up to 25 janskys in strength. At 4000 light years distance, that's about 500 million times the radio energy  put out by our Sun, at similar radio wavelengths. 

[toast]

2 minutes ago, bison said:

Thanks, Toast!  I was particularly interested by the power vs, time graph of the impulses. Quite a complex waveform over the short period of just 75 seconds. Depending on the integration time, maybe even more complex than it appears. Up to 25 janskys in strength. At 4000 light years distance, that's about 500 million times the radio energy  put out by our Sun, at similar radio wavelengths. 

You are welcome. Your post reminds me of:

Quote

“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.” Douglas Adams

Reading your post make me think we are close to the door of the more bizarre and inexplicable. Or something beyond that. At least, something.

[Damien99]

Sounds like it’s a magestar or slow sound neutron star

https://www.inverse.com/science/astronomers-discover-a-weird-new-kind-of-magnetar

[bison]

Magnetars are highly magnetized neutron stars, which flare unpredictably, probably due to star quakes on their surfaces. They do not flare in a repeating, regular pattern, such has been reported from this new object.

Pulsars are caused by our intercepting the beams of a rotating neutron star. These stars act very like electrical generators (dynamos). They convert their spin to electrical energy, due to a rotating magnetic field, and then to, among other things, radio waves.  The faster the field rotates, the greater the energy produced.

The slowest pulsar has a period of about 11 seconds. Assuming that this new object works by the same means as a pulsar, it must rotate about once in 18 minutes. This works out to around 1100 times slower. The question here is: why is its energy not at least 1100 times less than that of a normal pulsar, instead of a very  strong source of radio waves in the sky, as has just been reported?  

[bison]

I see evidence of at least four different periodicities is these newly-reported radio emissions. Besides the ~18-minute cycle of groups of bursts of radio energy and the  typically minute-long character of each burst, we have reports of the following:

The impulses would fade in and out over a period of several hours.

Two month-long periods of activity were noted fro January 3rd to February 2nd, 2018, and again, from February 28th to March 28th. This leaves a month-long gap, without activity, between, them.

What this all means, I couldn't say, but there is certainly food for thought here!

If this were an artificial, rather than a natural phenomenon, the immense energies involved suggest the possibility of the technological manipulation of a neutron star, so as to make it emit energy in a desired pattern. Perhaps in order to gather that energy for use, via satellites orbiting the star.

 

 

[bison]

Found this interesting old article while searching for more information on the strange new object. It seems that the discovery of another, pulsar-like object with a very similar pulsation period was announced,  in December, 2011. This object is known as SXP 1062. It was found by an x-ray satellite. It's period: 1,062 seconds, or 16.7 minutes. This is notably close to the period of the new object: 1,091 seconds or 18.18 minutes.

Please find a link to an article about this discovery, below:

https://www.space.com/14052-mystery-pulsar-supernova-space-oddity.html 

[bison]

The article linked below brings out a couple more interesting details about this object.

It was not seen in observations of this sky position for five years before the outburst, nor in the four years since.

Since the spinning of this object was too slow to produce the energy observed, as in a pulsar, another energy-producing process had to be considered.  It's conjectured that the intense magnetic field believed to surround the object became twisted.

In this way energy is stored up over time. When the field snaps back into its normal configuration, the energy is suddenly released.  Similar  magnetic field twisting and 'reconnection' events are seen in our Sun, causing highly energetic solar flares.

This is all fine, as far as it goes.It covers the 18 minute periodicity, via the assumed spin rate of the object. It also makes sense of the 30 to 60 second  pulse duration, as a ~ 20 degree-wide beam sweeps past our point of observation.

 It does not appear to explain the phenomenon fading in and out over a period of several hours. Nor its one-month on, one-month-off,  one-month-on-again  pattern. Nor why these impulses were seen for only two months over a three month period, but never in the preceding  five years, nor the following four. One would have to assume several  very odd coincidences to explain all that.

https://wonderfulengineering.com/scientists-have-discovered-a-mysterious-radio-signal-in-the-milky-way-that-is-repeating-every-18-minutes/

Edited February 5, 2022 by bison
added link, improved paragraph structure

[Damien99]

2 hours ago, bison said:

The article linked below brings out a couple more interesting details about this object.

It was not seen in observations of this sky position for five years before the outburst, nor in the four years since.

Since the spinning of this object was too slow to produce the energy observed, as in a pulsar, another energy-producing process had to be considered.  It's conjectured that the intense magnetic field believed to surround the object became twisted.

In this way energy is stored up over time. When the field snaps back into its normal configuration, the energy is suddenly released.  Similar  magnetic field twisting and 'reconnection' events are seen in our Sun, causing highly energetic solar flares.

This is all fine, as far as it goes.It covers the 18 minute periodicity, via the assumed spin rate of the object. It also makes sense of the 30 to 60 second  pulse duration, as a ~ 20 degree-wide beam sweeps past our point of observation.

 It does not appear to explain the phenomenon fading in and out over a period of several hours. Nor its one-month on, one-month-off,  one-month-on-again  pattern. Nor why these impulses were seen for only two months over a three month period, but never in the preceding  five years, nor the following four. One would have to assume several  very odd coincidences to explain all that.

https://wonderfulengineering.com/scientists-have-discovered-a-mysterious-radio-signal-in-the-milky-way-that-is-repeating-every-18-minutes/

WhT type of several odd occurrences 

[bison]

Odd coincidences, yes. Reconnection events release stored  stellar energy all at once. Their energy output can be very high. It's rather like a full water tank that collapses on one side. A torrent of water whooshes out suddenly, for a relatively short time, then nothing more. 

We have, in this instance, month-long periods of sustained, high-energy output, only broken up into thrice-hourly pulses by the supposed spinning of the star. To account for this, there would have to be a huge number of reconnection events happening over  a period of a month.

They would then have to stop completely for a month, then take up again for another month. And despite the implied extraordinary magnetic activity of this star, no such events were seen during the preceding five years, nor in the four years since then. 

Edited February 6, 2022 by bison
improved paragraph structure.

[Damien99]

9 minutes ago, bison said:

Odd coincidences, yes. Reconnection events release stored  stellar energy all at once. Their energy output can be very high. It's rather like a full water tank that collapses on one side. A torrent of water whooshes out suddenly, for a relatively short time, then nothing more. 

We have, in this instance, month-long periods of sustained, high-energy output, only broken up into thrice-hourly pulses by the supposed spinning of the star. To account for this, there would have to be a huge number of reconnection events happening over  a period of a month. They would then have to stop completely for a month, then take up again for another month. And despite the implied extraordinary magnetic activity of this star, no such events were seen during the preceding five years, nor in the four years since then. 

I get so chances are if they haven’t seen it in this long the object is probably gone maybe exploded or burnt out I guess 

[bison]

Well, if it's a neutron star or white dwarf, as speculated, it already exploded or burned out a long time ago. These defunct stars are able to continue emitting certain forms of latent energy for long periods of time.  If it were a white dwarf star in a binary system, it might go nova, even repeatedly, as the other star dumped fusible material onto its surface. That wouldn't match the reported behavior of this object, though.