Sunday, September 7, 2025
Science
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • SCIENCE NEWS
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • SCIENCE NEWS
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag
No Result
View All Result
Home Science News Space

Slow-spinning radio neutron star breaks all the rules

June 5, 2024
in Space
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0
Dr Manisha Caleb
66
SHARES
602
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
ADVERTISEMENT

Australian scientists from the University of Sydney and Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, have detected what is likely a neutron star spinning slower than any other ever measured.

Dr Manisha Caleb

Credit: University of Sydney, Fiona Wolf.

Australian scientists from the University of Sydney and Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, have detected what is likely a neutron star spinning slower than any other ever measured.

No other radio-emitting neutron star, out of the more than 3000 discovered so far, has been discovered rotating so slowly. The results are published today in Nature Astronomy.

Lead author Dr Manisha Caleb from the University of Sydney Institute for Astronomy said: “It is highly unusual to discover a neutron star candidate emitting radio pulsations in this way. The fact that the signal is repeating at such a leisurely pace is extraordinary.”

This unusual neutron star is emitting radio light at a rate that is too slow to fit with current descriptions of radio neutron star behaviour. This provides new insights into the complex life cycles of stellar objects.

At the end of their life, large stars about 10 times the mass of the Sun use up all their fuel and explode in a spectacular blast we call a supernova. What remains is a stellar remnant so dense that 1.4 times the mass of our Sun is packed into a ball just 20 kilometres across.

Matter is so dense that negatively charged electrons are crushed into positively charged protons and what’s left is an object made up of trillions of neutrally charged particles. A neutron star is born.

Given the extreme physics with which these stars collapse, neutron stars typically rotate mind-bendingly fast, taking just seconds or even fractions of a second to fully spin on their axis.

Now, astronomers at the University of Sydney and CSIRO have discovered a compact object repeating its signal with a comparatively leisurely period just shy of one hour.

The discovery was made using CSIRO’s ASKAP radio telescope on Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia.

The ASKAP radio telescope can see a large part of the sky at once, which means it can capture things researchers aren’t even looking for. CSIRO scientist Dr Emil Lenc, co-lead author on the paper, said they wouldn’t have found this strange object if it wasn’t for ASKAP’s unique design.

“We were simultaneously monitoring a source of gamma rays and seeking a fast radio burst when I spotted this object slowly flashing in the data. Three very different things in one field-of-view,” he said. 

“ASKAP is one of the best telescopes in the world for this sort of research, as it is constantly scanning so much of the sky, allowing us to detect any anomalies.”

The origin of such a long period signal remains a profound mystery, although two types of stars are prime suspects – white dwarfs and neutron stars.  

“What is intriguing is how this object displays three distinct emission states, each with properties entirely dissimilar from the others. The MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa played a crucial role in distinguishing between these states. If the signals didn’t arise from the same point in the sky, we would not have believed it to be the same object producing these different signals,” Dr Caleb said.
 

While an isolated white dwarf with an extraordinarily strong magnetic field could produce the observed signal, it is surprising that nearby highly-magnetic isolated white dwarfs have never been discovered. Conversely, a neutron star with extreme magnetic fields can quite elegantly explain the observed emissions.

While a slow-spinning neutron star is the likely explanation, researchers said they cannot rule out that the object is part of a binary system with a neutron star or another white dwarf.

More research will be required to confirm whether the object is a neutron star or white dwarf. Either way, it will provide valuable insights into the physics of these extreme objects.
“It might even prompt us to reconsider our decades-old understanding of neutron stars or white dwarfs; how they emit radio waves and what their populations are like in our Milky Way galaxy,” Dr Caleb said.

Professor Tara Murphy, leading radio astronomer and head of the School of Physics at the University of Sydney, said: “Until the advent of our new telescopes, the dynamic radio sky has been relatively unexplored. Now we’re able to look deeply, and often, we are seeing all kinds of unusual phenomena. These events give us insights into how physics works in extreme environments.”

DOWNLOAD photos of researchers, Dr Caleb and Dr Lenc, CSIRO’s ASKAP radio telescope and an artist’s depiction.

INTERVIEWS

Dr Manisha Caleb | manisha.caleb@sydney.edu.au

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Verity Leatherdale | verity.leatherdale@sydney.edu.au , +61 403 067 342

RESEARCH

Caleb, M. et al. ‘An emission state switching transient with a 54 minute period’. Nature Astronomy 2024. DOI: 10.1038/s41550-024-02277-w

ACKNOWLDEDGEMENT

CSIRO acknowledges the Wajarri Yamaji as the Traditional Owners and native title holders of Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory site, where ASKAP is located.

DECLARATION

The authors declare no competing interests. Funding organisations include the Australian Research Council, US Naval Research Laboratory and the Dutch Research Council.



Journal

Nature Astronomy

DOI

10.1038/s41550-024-02277-w

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

An emission state switching transient with a 54 minute period’

Article Publication Date

5-Jun-2024

COI Statement

DECLARATION

The authors declare no competing interests. Funding organisations include the Australian Research Council, US Naval Research Laboratory and the Dutch Research Council.

Share26Tweet17
Previous Post

Blood sausages and yak milk: Bronze Age cuisine of Mongolian nomads unveiled

Next Post

Breaking down barriers: ROCK2 inhibition facilitates drug delivery in fibrotic pancreatic cancer

Related Posts

blank
Space

Cylindrical Universe: Unpacking F(R, G) Complexity

September 6, 2025
blank
Space

BFKL Eigenfunctions: High-Energy Factorization Breakthrough

September 6, 2025
blank
Space

Final Call for Media: Join Us for EPSC-DPS2025 and Get Insights on RAMSES and Juno Missions

September 5, 2025
blank
Space

SiPM Cross-talk: Unpacking Detector Noise

September 5, 2025
blank
Space

Tracing the Collision History of L Chondrite Parents

September 5, 2025
blank
Space

Hairy Black Holes: Scrambling Cosmic Past

September 5, 2025
Next Post
Enhancing macromolecular delivery by ROCK2 inhibition in a 3D pancreatic cancer fibrotic barrier model

Breaking down barriers: ROCK2 inhibition facilitates drug delivery in fibrotic pancreatic cancer

  • Mothers who receive childcare support from maternal grandparents show more parental warmth, finds NTU Singapore study

    Mothers who receive childcare support from maternal grandparents show more parental warmth, finds NTU Singapore study

    27545 shares
    Share 11015 Tweet 6884
  • University of Seville Breaks 120-Year-Old Mystery, Revises a Key Einstein Concept

    960 shares
    Share 384 Tweet 240
  • Bee body mass, pathogens and local climate influence heat tolerance

    643 shares
    Share 257 Tweet 161
  • Researchers record first-ever images and data of a shark experiencing a boat strike

    510 shares
    Share 204 Tweet 128
  • Warm seawater speeding up melting of ‘Doomsday Glacier,’ scientists warn

    313 shares
    Share 125 Tweet 78
Science

Embark on a thrilling journey of discovery with Scienmag.com—your ultimate source for cutting-edge breakthroughs. Immerse yourself in a world where curiosity knows no limits and tomorrow’s possibilities become today’s reality!

RECENT NEWS

  • Turtle Meat Trade in Indonesia: Minimal Economic Impact
  • 9-Fluorenone Sulfonamides: Dual Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Proteases
  • Home Pumping Influences Bacterial Load in Human Milk
  • Shikonin Blocks EMT in Glioblastoma via p53 Activation

Categories

  • Agriculture
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Athmospheric
  • Biology
  • Blog
  • Bussines
  • Cancer
  • Chemistry
  • Climate
  • Earth Science
  • Marine
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine
  • Pediatry
  • Policy
  • Psychology & Psychiatry
  • Science Education
  • Social Science
  • Space
  • Technology and Engineering

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 5,183 other subscribers

© 2025 Scienmag - Science Magazine

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • SCIENCE NEWS
  • CONTACT US

© 2025 Scienmag - Science Magazine

Discover more from Science

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading