The issuing star of radio and radio waves is like nothing that astronomers have seen in our galaxy

Askap J1832-0911 – Probably a magnetar or an extremely magnetized white dwarf – emits pulses of radio and X -ray waves for two minutes every 44 minutes, according to a paper Published in the journal Nature.

Askap J1832-0911 is located about 15,000 light years from the earth in the Constellation of Scutum.

The star was discovered by astronomers using the Askap radioelescope in Australia.

It belongs to a class of objects called Radio transitions at a long time, first identified in 2022, which vary in the intensity of radio waves in a regular manner on dozens of minutes.

It is thousands of times longer than the length of the repeated variations observed in the pulsars, which quickly rotate neutron stars which have repeated variations several times per second.

“Askap J1832-0911 Cycles in the intensity of radio waves every 44 minutes, placing it in this category of long-term radio transients,” said Dr. Ziteg Wang, astronomer with the node of Curtin University at the International Center for Research for Astronomical Radio (ICRAR) and colleagues.

Using the NASA X -ray observatory, the researchers discovered that Askap J1832 also varies regularly in x -rays every 44 minutes.

This is the first time that such a X -ray signal has been found in a long -term radio transitional.

“Astronomers have watched countless stars with all kinds of telescopes and we have never seen one that acts in this way,” said Dr. Wang.

“It's exciting to see a new type of behavior for stars.”

Using Chandra and the SKA Pathfinder, scientists found that Askap J1832-0911 also dropped on X-rays and radio waves spectacular in six months.

This combination of the 44 -minute cycle in X -rays and radio waves in addition to changes of month is like nothing that astronomers have seen in the galaxy of the Milky Way.

The authors now run to determine if Askap J1832-0911 is representative of the long-term radio transients and if its bizarre behavior helps to untangle the origin of these objects.

“We have examined several different possibilities involving neutron stars and white dwarfs, either in isolation or with companions stars,” said Dr. Nanda Rea, astronomer of the Institute of Spatial Sciences in Barcelona, ​​Spain.

“So far, nothing corresponds exactly, but some ideas work better than others.”

Askap J1832-0911 is unlikely to be a pulsar or a neutron star drawing a material from a complementary star because its properties do not correspond to the typical intensities of the radio and radiographic signals of these objects.

Some of the properties of the object could be explained by a neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field, called Magnetar, with an age of more than 500,000 years.

However, its other characteristics, such as its bright and variable radio emissions, are difficult to explain for such an old magnetar.

On the sky, Askap J1832-0911 seems to be in a remaining supernova, which often contains a neutron star formed by the supernova.

However, the team has determined that proximity is probably a coincidence and both are not associated with each other, encouraging them to consider the possibility that it does not contain a neutron star.

They concluded that an isolated white dwarf does not explain the data but that a white dwarf star with a complementary star could.

However, it would take the strongest magnetic field ever known for a white dwarf in our galaxy.

“We will continue to look for clues on what is happening with this object, and we will seek similar objects,” said Dr. Tong Bao, astronomer from the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) – Osservatorio Astronomico Di Brera.

“Finding a mystery like this is not frustrating – that's what makes science exciting!”

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Z. Wang and al. Detection of X -ray emission from a long -term radio transitional. Naturepublished online on May 28, 2025; DOI: 10.1038 / S41586-025-09077-W