Astronomers baffled by mystery object flashing signals at Earth every 44 minutes: ‘Like nothing we’ve ever seen’

The truth is retired there.

Astronomers opportunity they’re stunned by an unidentified entity flashing unusual signals from heavy space.

The object, named ASKAP J1832-0911, was detected by nan Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and NASA’S Chandra X-ray observatory — nan world’s astir powerful X-ray telescope.

“It is dissimilar thing we person seen before,” Andy Wang, an astronomer astatine Curtin University successful Perth, Australia, declared successful a statement published this week.

ASKAP J1832-0911 emits pulses of power waves and X-rays for 2 minutes each 44 minutes, according to nan experts, who documented their findings successful Nature journal.

An image of nan entity showing nan region astir ASKAP J1832-0911. Ziteng Wang, ICRAR

ASKAP J1832-0911 has been classified arsenic a “long-period transient” aliases “LPT” — a cosmic assemblage that emits power pulses separated by a fewer minutes aliases a fewer hours.

Wang and has squad theorize that nan entity could beryllium a dormant star, but they don’t cognize why it “switches on” and “switches off” astatine “long, regular and different intervals,” Space.com reports.

“ASKAP J1831-0911 could beryllium a magnetar (the halfway of a dormant prima pinch powerful magnetic fields), aliases it could beryllium a brace of stars successful a binary strategy wherever 1 of nan 2 is simply a highly magnetised achromatic dwarf (a low-mass prima astatine nan extremity of its evolution),” Wang wrote.

“However, moreover those theories do not afloat explicate what we are observing,” he added. “This find could bespeak a caller type of physics aliases caller models of stellar evolution.”

Wang and his squad dream to observe akin different utilizing power waves and nan Chandra X-ray observatory, saying a consequent find will thief them study much astir nan quality of specified LPTs.

An artist’s illustration of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory successful space. NASA/CXC & J. Vaughan, NASA/CXC & J. Vaughan

It’s not nan only abstraction find to deed headlines and spark speech successful caller weeks.

Earlier this month, Cambridge University Press revealed that astronomers had detected a awesome extracted from interstellar sound that could beryllium a motion of progressive biology connected different planet.

“Astronomers person detected nan astir promising signs yet of a imaginable biosignature extracurricular nan star system, though they stay cautious,” a press release from nan prestigious patient read.