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Title: Astronomers Discover Mystery Cosmic Body Bursting With X-Rays

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/05/29/0...

Astronomers have discovered a mysterious cosmic object, ASKAP J1832-0911,
that emits both radio waves and X-rays in precise 44-minute cycles, making it
unlike anything observed before. Space.com reports: This is the first time an
object like this, a so-called "long-period transient" or "LPT," has been seen
in high-energy X-ray light as well as low-energy radio wave light. The team
behind this discovery hopes the finding could help reveal what these flashing
objects actually are and how they launch their mystery signals. However, not
only is there no explanation for how the signals from LPTs are generated yet,
but astronomers also don't know why these signals "switch on" and "switch
off" at long, regular and unusual intervals. "This object is unlike anything
we have seen before," team leader and Curtin University researcher Zieng
(Andy) Wang said in a statement. [...] The team believes the true nature of
ASKAP J1832-0911 is a dead star, they just don't quite know what form that
star takes. A highly magnetic neutron star, or "magnetar," is one option, and
a a white dwarf -- the kind of stellar remnant the sun will leave behind when
it dies in over 5 billion years -- is another. "ASKAP J1831- 0911 could be a
magnetar, the core of a dead star with powerful magnetic fields, or it could
be a pair of stars in a binary system where one of the two is a highly
magnetized white dwarf, a low-mass star at the end of its evolution," Wang
said. "However, even those theories do not fully explain what we are
observing. "This discovery could indicate a new type of physics or new models
of stellar evolution." The research has been published in the journal Nature.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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