Astronomers find rare pulsing object in the Milky Way

A newly discovered object in the Milky Way is baffling astronomers with bursts of radio and X-rays every 44 minutes.

Astronomers have identified a mysterious new object in the Milky Way, named ASKAP J1832-0911, which emits bursts of radio waves and X-rays for two minutes every 44 minutes.

An international team reports that the object—possibly a star, a binary system, or something else entirely—releases X-rays at the same time it sends out radio pulses.

Located about 15,000 light-years away in a dense region filled with stars, gas, and dust, the object may be a highly magnetized dead star, such as a neutron star or white dwarf.

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory first detected the X-ray emissions by chance last year while observing a nearby supernova remnant. It marks the first time X-rays have been linked to a long-period radio transient—an extremely rare type of object that pulses on timescales of tens of minutes.

The object’s hyperactive phase lasted roughly a month. Outside that window, it showed no X-ray activity, leading scientists to suggest that more such hidden objects could be waiting to be found.

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