Astronomers have detected what is thought to be a neutron star, the slowest among the other 3,000 found so far. Analyzing a signal that traveled 16 thousand light years to Earth, the team of scientists classified the news as “unexpected” in a press release.
The discovery could change what researchers consider about this type of body and also white dwarfs — the second possibility considered for the signal found —, reflecting on the way they emit their waves and the presence of this type of star in the Milky Way.
Every 54 minutes
Neutron star is the name given to the remnants of explosions of stellar bodies at the end of their life — a phenomenon called supernova. These remains are composed of trillions of neutrons concentrated in a ball so dense that its mass — 1.4 times that of the Sun — is compressed into a radius of just ten kilometers.
These bodies normally rotate at very fast speeds, taking only seconds or even a fraction of a second to make a complete turn on their axis. However, the new star detected emitted signals every 54 minutes, which is why it was classified as the slowest found to date.
“In the study of radio-emitting neutron stars, we are used to extremes, but this discovery of a compact star rotating so slowly and still emitting radio waves was unexpected. This demonstrates that expanding the limits of our research space with this new generation of radio telescopes will reveal surprises that challenge our understanding”, commented Ben Stappers, professor of Astrophysics at the University of Manchester, England.
Neutron star vs white dwarf
The research was carried out by a group of astronomers led by Dr. Manisha Caleb, from the University of Sydney, and Dr. Emil Lenc of the Australian National Science Agency (CSIRO). Furthermore, scientists from the University of Manchester and the University of Oxford, both in England, participated. The results were published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Using CSIRO’s ASKAP radio telescope in Western Australia, the researchers collected data that indicate the body emitting these signals is a neutron star, but do not rule out the possibility that it is an isolated white dwarf with an extraordinarily strong magnetic field.
Manisha Caleb commented that “what is intriguing is how this object exhibits three distinct states of emission, each with totally different properties from the others. The MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa played a crucial role in distinguishing between these states. If the signals didn’t come from the same point in the sky, we wouldn’t believe it was the same object producing these different signals.”
Advances in research could help deepen science’s understanding of the most enigmatic objects in the Universe and the complex life cycles of stellar objects.
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