Science

Astronomers Unearth a Cosmic Riddle: A Star Emitting Unusual X-rays and Radio Waves!

2025-05-30

Author: Michael

In a groundbreaking discovery, astronomers have identified a star behaving in a way that has never been recorded before—emitting both striking radio waves and captivating X-rays. This enigmatic star, located approximately 15,000 light-years away in the Milky Way and shining in the constellation Scutum, flashes its intriguing signals every 44 minutes.

This celestial object belongs to a newly categorized class called "long-period radio transients," known for producing bursts of radio waves that can last from minutes to hours. Unlike pulsars, which blink rapidly every few milliseconds or seconds due to their rapid spin, this star's behavior is puzzling, raising questions about its nature and the mechanisms behind its signals.

Leading the investigation, astronomer Ziteng Wang from Curtin University stated that the origins of these unique emissions are still shrouded in mystery. The findings have been documented in a recent study published in the prestigious journal Nature.

Utilizing data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope, researchers noted that while the new star's radio emissions resemble other known examples, it stands out as the only one emitting X-rays.

The team proposed possible identities for this mysterious star. It could be a magnetar, a neutron star boasting an extraordinary magnetic field, or a white dwarf—a dense remnant of a star that has exhausted its nuclear fuel—currently in a rapid orbit around another star in a binary system. Wang pointed out, however, that neither hypothesis fully explains the observations.

Stars with masses up to eight times that of our sun typically conclude their life cycle as white dwarfs, which burn through their hydrogen fuel before collapsing into dense cores.

Intriguingly, the radio waves may arise from interactions between the white dwarf and its nearby companion star. Researchers observed dramatic fluctuations in brightness from this object, noting it exhibited no radio signal before November 2023, only to boost its intensity to remarkable levels by February 2024. "Fewer than 30 celestial objects have ever reached this brightness in radio frequency," Wang commented, also highlighting the simultaneous detection of X-ray pulses during this bright phase.

The serendipitous detection from NASA's Chandra space telescope was quite the stroke of luck; the telescope was originally focused on a different target when it stumbled upon this star in its fleetingly bright state. Wang enthused, "A coincidence like that is akin to finding a needle in a haystack!" This discovery not only deepens our understanding of the cosmos but also opens the door to a thrilling new chapter in stellar research.