2023-08-08 06:00:00
For 35 years, an unknown source regularly sends out energy blasts every 21 minutes that vary in brightness. Researchers do not understand its origin, which does not conform to any model.
In an article published in the journal Nature, the team of scientists explains that they discovered this radio signal by browsing through old recordings. After verification, it turns out that the signals began to be recorded in 1988, at a distance of 15,000 light years from Earth. Thanks to data collected over 35 years, they were able to calculate the duration and regularity of the signals: a signal between 30 and 300 seconds (i.e. 5 minutes), every 1318 seconds (i.e. approximately 21 minutes), with a variation of more or minus one tenth of a millisecond.
The source, called GPMJ1839-10, is not yet understood by scientists who cannot fit the signals into any known model. “Our object looked a lot like a pulsar, but spinning 1000 times slower“, explains the team in an article of The Conversation.
They initially thought of a pulsar, which was the case with the last source of radio signals detected by McGill University, however the long regularity of the signals is not consistent with a pulsar (a rotating neutron star). “Pulsars slow down as they age, and their pulses get weaker, until they eventually stop producing radio waves altogether.“, continues the team.
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