Scientists recently discovered a mysterious signal coming from a distant star that has apparently been producing radio waves for decades.
The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) researchers who discovered the radio signal believe it is coming from a rare neutron star known as a magnetar.
According to EarthSky, a magnetar is a neutron star characterized by a magnetic field about 1,000 times stronger than a typical neutron star and up to a trillion times more powerful than Earth’s. The stars can be as big as 15 miles wide but are densely packed.
The first magnetar was discovered in 1979, per NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center website.
Some magnetars, known as pulsars, can produce powerful radio wave beams. However, the ICRAR scientists said the new pulsar they discovered is far different than anything they have seen before.
They published their findings in Nature Journal on July 19, naming the new magnetar GPM J1839–10. It is located approximately 15,000 light years from Earth.
Using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) radio telescope in Western Australia, scientists documented the frequency of radio waves emanating from the star. Magnetars typically release energy waves in intervals ranging from seconds to a few minutes. In contrast, GPM J1839–10 emits radio waves every 22 minutes, some of which last as long as five minutes. It has been active for more than three decades.
“This remarkable object challenges our understanding of neutron stars and magnetars, which are some of the most exotic and extreme objects in the universe,” said Dr. Natasha Hurley-Walker, lead author of this new study, per ICRAR.
Scientists also noted that the star is below the “death line,” a threshold where a star’s magnetic field becomes too weak to produce high-energy emissions.
“Whatever mechanism is behind this is extraordinary,” Hurley-Walker said.
GPM J1839–10 is the “longest period” magnetar ever discovered and just the second of its kind identified. The first was found by Tyrone O’Doherty of Curtin University. O’Doherty worked under Hurley-Walker’s supervision.
Upon discovering GPM J1839–10, researchers searched the archives of other telescopes around the world and found data confirming the magnetar’s existence that dated back to 1988.
“That was quite an incredible moment for me. I was 5 years old when our telescopes first recorded pulses from this object, but no one noticed it, and it stayed hidden in the data for 33 years,” Hurley-Walker said, per ICRAR.