Scientists have noticed a mysterious signal from space! “This Could Be the Missing Link”

We received a strange signal from the other side of the galaxy.
Astronomers are trying to figure out what that means. They know the signals are coming from a neutron star they’ve named ASKAP J193505.1+214841.0 (ASKAP J1935+2148 for short).

This star is located about 15,820 light years from Earth. Scientists have never seen anything like these signals. The star goes through periods of strong pulses, periods of weak pulses and periods of no pulses, reports Science Alert.

What we don’t know, according to a team led by astrophysicist Manisha Caleb of the University of Sydney in Australia, is why this happens. This strange object presents a fascinating challenge to our understanding of the evolution of neutron stars.

A neutron star is what remains after a star with a mass of 8 to 30 times the mass of the Sun “dies”. The star’s outer material is ejected into space, culminating in a supernova explosion. The remaining core of the star collapses under its own gravity, forming an ultra-dense object up to 2.3 times the mass of the Sun, in a sphere only 20 kilometers in diameter.

Pulsar and magnetar

The resulting neutron star can manifest itself in a variety of ways. There is a basic neutron star, which just exists without doing much. There is the pulsar, which emits beams of radio emission from its poles as it rotates, flashing like a cosmic beacon. And then there’s a magnetar, a neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field, which convulses and erupts as the outward pressure of that magnetic field wars with the gravity holding the star together.

There may also be a rare transition between neutron star types, suggesting that they may be different stages of neutron star development. However, in general, pulsars, magnetars and neutron stars tend to behave in relatively predictable ways.

ASKAP J1935+2148 is not behaving in ways that are normal for a neutron star of any known type. It was first identified by chance while observing another target, and subsequent observations were made using the Australian Low Square Kilometer Finder (ASKAP) and the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa.

The researchers also looked at previous ASKAP observations that covered the same part of the sky.

A mysterious phenomenon

They found that ASKAP J1935+2148 had a regular pulsation period of 53.8 minutes, but that seemed to be the only normal thing about its pulsation. One form of pulsation, they explain, was extremely bright, with highly linear polarization. But then it would disappear completely, with no measurable pulses for a period.

Eventually, the star was found to have resumed its pulsating activity – but an incredible 26 times fainter than in its previous luminous regime and with light that is circularly polarized. In recent years, several strange objects have been discovered emitting repetitive signals in the southern sky. Although they don’t all behave the same way, they could be related.

GLEAM-X J162759.5-523504.3 is an object near the galactic center that emitted bizarrely bright flashes for just three months before going silent again. GPM J1839-10 was found to behave like a bizarrely slow pulsar, emitting five-minute bursts of radio waves every 22 minutes. And GCRT J1745-3009 is a pulsating object near the galactic center with a period of 77 minutes.

The missing link

We don’t know for sure what any of these objects are, but they are probably neutron stars. And ASKAP J1935+2148, Caleb and her colleagues suggest, could be a kind of missing link between the different states. The differences between its pulsation modes are likely related to changes and processes in the magnetosphere, suggesting that all objects belong to a new class of magnetars, perhaps as they evolve into pulsars.

“ASKAP J1935+2148 is likely part of an older population of magnetars with long spin periods and low X-ray emission, but sufficiently magnetized to produce coherent radio emission,” the researchers write in their paper.
“It is important to explore this previously unexplored area of ​​neutron star parameters to get a complete picture of neutron star evolution, and this source could be important for that.”