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We have no idea what it is.
Radio orchestra
Using the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), an extremely sensitive radio telescope, a team of astronomers discovered a mysterious radio signal emanating not far from the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, Science Alert reports.
“We presented the discovery and characterization of ASKAP J173608.2-321635: a highly polarized variable radio source located near the galactic center and without a clear counterpart at several wavelengths,” read a prepublication article on research, which was accepted. for publication in The Journal of Astrophysics.
There is a chance that the signal is coming from a known type of cosmic object, such as Science Alert points out, but the signal’s highly unusual radio wave signatures puzzled scientists, making it nearly impossible to explain – another indication that our knowledge of our own galaxy remains woefully incomplete.
Elusive signals
The signal was also extremely difficult to spot. It appeared 13 times in ASKAP observations between April 2019 and August 2020, but subsequent attempts to confirm its existence using telescopes around the world have failed. But then it started to appear again in the Australian Compact Telescope Radio Telescope (ATCA) and South African MeerKAT Radio Telescope observations earlier this year, the researchers said.
Even more puzzled, the elusive signal also did not appear in x-ray or near-infrared observations, suggesting that its source is unlikely to be a blazing star or a near binary system.
It’s also unlikely to be a pulsar, a dying star that lights up the galaxy like a beacon with highly magnetized emissions, scientists say.
In other words, researchers are scratching their heads. None of their explanations can fully explain it, which led them to suggest “that ASKAP J173608.2-321635 may represent part of a new class of objects discovered through radio imaging surveys” in their article.
But there may be other signals like this, the researchers argue. With more samples, we might finally find a plausible explanation for the radio source.
READ MORE: Something mysterious near the galactic center is flashing radio signals [ScienceAlert]
Learn more about radio signals: Scientists have discovered hundreds of mysterious new signals from deep space
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