{"id":137501,"date":"2024-12-16T01:16:07","date_gmt":"2024-12-15T18:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=137501"},"modified":"2024-12-16T01:16:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-15T18:16:07","slug":"mystery-signals-may-be-coming-from-one-of-the-rarest-stars-in-the-galaxy-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=137501","title":{"rendered":"Mystery Signals May Be Coming From One of The Rarest Stars in The Galaxy : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A few years ago, a radio telescope operating out of the desert of Western Australia observed something very weird.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/something-in-our-cosmic-vicinity-is-spitting-out-strange-signals-we-ve-never-seen-before\">Just 4,000 light-years from Earth<\/a>, something was emitting a bright radio signal like nothing we&#8217;d ever seen before: flashing like a pulsar, but with a super long period between pulses, and a super long pulse itself. The nature of the source was impossible, at that point, to discern.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So astronomers went looking for answers \u2013 and found another one, coming from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/another-object-has-been-found-emitting-strange-radio-signals-in-our-galaxy\">15,000 light-years away<\/a>. It, too, was difficult to pinpoint amid the crowded region of space from which it emanated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now they&#8217;ve found a third, around 5,000 light-years away. This one has the longest period yet, emitting flashes between 30 and 60 seconds long, every 2.9 hours \u2013 and astronomers have narrowed it down to a single source that finally could tell us what makes these curious emissions: a tiny, red dwarf star in a binary orbit with an even tinier white dwarf star.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8220;The long-period transients are very exciting, and for astronomers to understand what they are, we need an optical image. However, when you look toward them, there are so many stars lying in the way that it&#8217;s like <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2001: A Space Odyssey<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. &#8216;My god, it&#8217;s full of stars!&#8217;,&#8221; <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.icrar.org\/binarytransient\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">says astrophysicist Natasha Hurley-Walker<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Australia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Our new discovery lies far off the Galactic Plane, so there are only a handful of stars nearby, and we&#8217;re now certain one star system, in particular, is generating the radio waves.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Astronomers find possible cause for mystery signals\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1031873047?h=17aa18ea5e&amp;dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The so-called long-period transients came to widespread attention in 2022, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/something-in-our-cosmic-vicinity-is-spitting-out-strange-signals-we-ve-never-seen-before\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">when astronomers reported the discovery<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of a flashing signal in archival data from the Murchison Widefield Array (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mwatelescope.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MWA<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), a powerful telescope operating in low radio frequencies. It was called GLEAM-X J162759.5\u2212523504.3, and was recorded emitting radio waves for 30 to 60 seconds, every 18.18 minutes, up until March 2018 when it stopped.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second signal, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/another-object-has-been-found-emitting-strange-radio-signals-in-our-galaxy\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reported in 2023<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, was discovered in follow-up MWA observations. In a different, but still crowded, part of the sky, something was found emitting five-minute bursts of radio waves every 22 minutes. A look at archival data found it had been active since at least 1988. That was GPM J1839-10.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>One type of star that emits pulsing signals is a type of  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/neutron-stars\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" data-linkid=\"73122\" data-postid=\"145034\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\">neutron star<\/a> called a  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/pulsar\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" data-linkid=\"73051\" data-postid=\"145034\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\">pulsar<\/a>, the collapsed core of a massive star that has gone supernova.  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/pulsar\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" data-linkid=\"73051\" data-postid=\"145034\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\">Pulsars<\/a> emit beams of radio waves as they spin, so that they appear to flash as we watch them; but pulsar flashes are <a href=\"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.3847\/1538-4357\/aade88\">never that slow<\/a>, occurring on timescales of seconds to milliseconds.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The third signal, named GLEAM-X J0704-37 is very similar. It was found in MWA archival data, too, emitting a signal lasting 30 to 60 seconds, every 2.9 hours. But it&#8217;s in a much less crowded region of space, the outskirts of the Milky Way in the southern constellation of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Puppis\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Puppis<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_145041\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-145041\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/meerkat-mwa.jpg\" alt=\"Mystery Signals Beamed at Earth Could Be One of The Rarest Stars in The Galaxy\" width=\"642\" height=\"646\" class=\"size-full wp-image-145041\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/meerkat-mwa.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/meerkat-mwa-412x415.jpg 412w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/meerkat-mwa-600x604.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-145041\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">MeerKAT and the MWA were both needed to find the star. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.icrar.org\/binarytransient\/\">Hurley-Walker et al.<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This meant the researchers had a better shot at identifying the precise source of the signals. They used the MeerKAT radio telescope array in South Africa to zoom in on the patch of sky from which the signal originated, and found only one faint star that matched the location. An analysis of the star&#8217;s spectrum revealed its identity: an M-type red dwarf.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, red dwarfs are legion in the Milky Way. They constitute the most numerous category of stars in the galaxy. If a normal red dwarf could just spit out the long-period radio emission we see from GLEAM-X J0704-37, then we&#8217;d probably be seeing a lot more of them doing it. This suggests that there&#8217;s something unusual about GLEAM-X J0704-37; something that is difficult to see.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That something, the team thinks, is most likely a white dwarf, the collapsed remnant core of a dead sun. These ultra-dense objects have masses up to 1.4 Suns, packed into a sphere somewhere between the size of Earth and the Moon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;The M dwarfs are low-mass stars that have a mere fraction of the Sun&#8217;s mass and luminosity. They constitute 70 per cent of the stars in the Milky Way, but not one of them is visible to the naked eye,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.icrar.org\/binarytransient\/\">Hurley-Walker says<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Our data suggests that it is in a binary with another object, which is likely to be a white dwarf, the stellar core of a dying star. Together, they power radio emission.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Artist\u2019s impression video of the exotic binary star system AR Scorpii\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YdFi2qX9Hek?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> frameborder=&#8221;0\u2033 allow=&#8221;accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share&#8221; referrerpolicy=&#8221;strict-origin-when-cross-origin&#8221; allowfullscreen&gt;<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the team&#8217;s calculations, the binary could consist of a red dwarf star around 0.32 times the mass of the Sun, and a white dwarf 0.8 times the mass of the Sun. If the two are in a close enough orbit, the white dwarf could be accreting material from the red dwarf; this process could result in constant beams of emission from the white dwarf&#8217;s poles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We can&#8217;t see the beams, but as they lash the red dwarf, they could be causing it to temporarily brighten, as seen in the binary system <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/we-just-found-one-of-the-rarest-stars-in-the-galaxy\">AR Scorpii<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The next step will be to conduct further observations, in both radio and ultraviolet wavelengths, to try to find direct evidence for the white dwarf. If confirmed, that would make GLEAM-X J0704-37 a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/we-just-found-one-of-the-rarest-stars-in-the-galaxy\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">white dwarf pulsar<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 one of the rarest kinds of stars in the Milky Way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The team&#8217;s research has been published in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.3847\/2041-8213\/ad890e\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Astrophysical Journal Letters<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/mystery-signals-may-be-coming-from-one-of-the-rarest-stars-in-the-galaxy\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few years ago, a radio telescope operating out of the desert of Western Australia observed something very weird. Just 4,000 light-years from Earth, something was emitting a bright radio &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=137501\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8628],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=137501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137501\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=137501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=137501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=137501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}