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NASA has spotted something mysterious in deep space that it can not quite explain – bright flashes of green and blue spots that appeared and disappeared in a cosmic second.
The NuSTAR X-ray observatory was looking at the Fireworks galaxy (NGC 6946) and saw multiple blobs of blue and green light that appeared and disappeared within weeks, according to a new study published in the Astrophysical Journal. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory also witnesses the appearance and disappearance of the green blob, known as an ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX), confirming the sighting.
"Ten days is a bright spot to appear," said Hannah Earnshaw, a postdoctoral researcher at Caltech, in a statement. "Usually with NuSTAR, we observe more gradual changes over time, and we do not often observe a multiple source times in quick succession.In this instance, we were fortunate to catch a rapidly changing source, which is very exciting."
This visible-light image of the Fireworks galaxy (NGC 6946) comes from the Digital Sky Survey, and is overlaid with data from NASA's NuSTAR observatory (in blue and green). Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
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While researchers are quick to point out that they are a common occurrence in this area, they also note that ULXs are "typically long-lived." With this ULX, there was "visible light … detected with the X-ray source," which is likely to be supernova.
So what is it? The researchers offered several types of green blobs, including the fact that it could be a black hole.
"If an object gets too close to a black hole," said the NASA, "NASA wrote in the post. "Material at the inner edge of this newly formed form makes it so easy that it heats up to millions of degrees and radiates X-rays."
But given the fact that ULX-4 could be a recurring event, another possible explanation is that it is a neutron star. Neutron stars, which are about the same mass as the Sun, are able to draw in material, creating disks of debris that can generate ULX sources.
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However, if the neutron star spins too fast, the magnetic fields it creates can actually cause a barrier, which would prevent the material from reaching the star's surface.
"It would be like trying to jump onto a carousel that's spinning," Earnshaw added.
The barrier effect would prevent the star from being a source of X-rays. However, the barrier might be "waver briefly," which would allow material to fall through and land on the neutron star's surface, which could explain the sudden appearance and disappearance of the ULX, researchers suggested.
"This result is an understanding of acceding to black holes or neutron stars," Earnshaw said.
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