An international team of astronomers from the Curtin University node of the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) has made an exciting discovery that challenges our understanding of neutron stars. They have found a new type of stellar object that could be an ultra-long period magnetar.

Magnetars are rare stars with incredibly strong magnetic fields that can generate powerful bursts of energy. Previously, all known magnetars released energy at intervals ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes. However, this newly discovered object, named GPM J1839−10, emits radio waves every 22 minutes, making it the longest period magnetar ever detected.

The astronomers made this discovery using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), a radio telescope located on Wajarri Yamaji Country in outback Western Australia. GPM J1839−10 is situated 15,000 light-years away from Earth in the Scutum constellation.

Lead author Dr. Natasha Hurley-Walker stated that this remarkable object challenges our current understanding of neutron stars and magnetars. Neutron stars and magnetars are already considered some of the most exotic and extreme objects in the universe, but this discovery adds a new level of complexity.

The stellar object is only the second of its kind to be detected. The first was discovered by Curtin University undergraduate research student Tyrone O’Doherty. Initially, scientists could not explain what they had found. After publishing a paper in Nature in January 2022 about an enigmatic transient object, they continued their search, wondering if it was an isolated event or just the beginning.

Between July and September 2022, the research team used the MWA telescope to scan the skies and eventually found GPM J1839−10. This new object emits bursts of energy that last up to five minutes, which is five times longer than the first discovered object. Other telescopes, including the CSIRO radio telescopes in Australia, the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa, the Grantecan (GTC) 10m telescope, and the XMM-Newton space telescope, followed up on the discovery to confirm and learn more about its unique characteristics.

The team also searched the observational archives of various radio telescopes around the world. They discovered that GPM J1839−10 had been observed as far back as 1988 by the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in India and the Very Large Array (VLA) in the U.S. This realization was significant because it showed that this object had been hiding in the data for 33 years without recognition.

Interestingly, not all magnetars produce radio waves. Some magnetars exist below the “death line,” which is the critical threshold where a star’s magnetic field becomes too weak to generate high-energy emissions. The newly discovered object, GPM J1839−10, is spinning too slowly to produce radio waves and is considered to be below the death line. Despite this, the astronomers have observed radio waves emanating from it, contradicting current expectations.

This groundbreaking discovery raises new questions about the physics of neutron stars and magnetars. It challenges our previous assumptions and highlights the mysteries that still exist within these enigmatic stellar objects. Further research and observations will shed more light on this newly discovered ultra-long period magnetar and deepen our understanding of the universe’s most extreme phenomena.

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