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Astronomers discover mysterious space object ‘unlike anything’ seen before — Analysis

The item, not like something the scientists have seen earlier than, emits large blasts of vitality each 20 minutes

Scientists utilizing a strong telescope in Western Australia have found a “mysterious” object in our galaxy, which lets off gigantic blasts of vitality thrice an hour. The researchers reckon it might be “an ultra-long-period magnetar,” which has by no means been noticed earlier than.

The item was found by Tyrone O’Doherty, a pupil at Curtin College in Perth, Australia, utilizing the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescope in Western Australia’s sparsely-populated outback. 

O’Doherty and his group noticed how the unusual object spins round in area, letting off a strong beam of radiation each 20 minutes that, for a minute at a time, makes it one of many brightest radio sources within the evening sky. 

The group’s analysis was revealed within the scientific journal ‘Nature’ on Wednesday, with the scientists speculating that the thing might be “an ultra-long-period magnetar,” a form of slowly-spinning neutron star, left behind after the collapse of a supergiant star. Neutron stars sometimes emit bursts of radiation extraordinarily rapidly – like pulsars, which ‘flash’ each few milliseconds – or slowly, as is the case with supernovae, which flash each few days.

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An object in between, like the sort discovered by O’Doherty and his group, is far rarer and has by no means been noticed earlier than.

“This object was showing and disappearing over a number of hours throughout our observations,” astrophysicist Dr. Natasha Hurley-Walker mentioned. “That was fully surprising. It was form of spooky for an astronomer as a result of there’s nothing recognized within the sky that does that.”

“And it’s actually fairly near us, about 4,000 gentle years away,” she added. “It’s in our galactic yard.”

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