Canberra, Europe Brief News – Since the earth has come into existence, the formation and destruction of new stars happen but only a few go noticed, the rest are beyond human knowledge.
However, this new star that scientists in Australia detected is the first of its kind as it seems to behave, unlike any other star which is seen in a milky way.
The object was suspected of using the Murchison Widefield Array telescope in outback Western Australia, as per the details coming out, the star unleashed huge bursts of energy roughly three times per hour-every 18 minutes or so for a minute.
When it was viewed from Earth in 2018 the scientists claimed it to be an “ultra-long period magnetar”
This star is said to be highly magnetized and rotates relatively slowly. It tends to blink every second or millisecond because of the pulses which radiate from earth to the core of the star.
Natasha Hurley-Walker a radio astronomer said, “It’s mind-bogglingly wonderful that the universe is still full of surprises”.
She works at the Curtin University node for the international center of radio astronomy research (ICRAR) in Australia and also is the lead author of the study published this week in the journal Nature.
The object continues to beam strong radio waves from its north and south poles. The scientists claimed that the star switches on for every 18 minutes and 11 seconds for about 30 to 60 seconds and then switches off again.
The same is the case of a lighthouse with a rotating light that seems to switch on and off from the perspective of an idle viewer.
“This is an entirely new kind of source that no one has ever seen before,” Hurley-Walker said. She continued to say “It was kind of spooky for an astronomer because there’s nothing known in the sky that does that. And it’s really quite close to us… It’s in our galactic backyard”
Furthermore, it’s relatively closer to earth, and it’s easier for scientists to observe it.
Study co-author Tyrone O’Doherty, a Curtin ICRAR node doctoral student who found the object said “It’s incredibly bright when it’s ‘on.’ It’s one of the brightest radio sources in the sky,“
