In the vast expanse of the Milky Way, 15,000 light-years from Earth, a celestial mystery is captivating astronomers.

According to Study Finds, an object, designated ASKAP J1832-0911, emits pulses of radio waves and X-rays every 44 minutes, a rhythm that defies current understanding of cosmic phenomena.

Discovered by an international team led by Dr. Ziteng Wang from Curtin University, this object is unlike anything previously observed, challenging existing theories about stellar objects and potentially hinting at new physics.

ASKAP J1832-0911 belongs to a rare group of objects known as long-period transients (LPTs), first identified in 2022.

Unlike typical pulsars, which flash multiple times per second, LPTs emit radio pulses at intervals of minutes or even hours.

What sets ASKAP J1832 apart is its synchronized emission of both radio waves and X-rays, a behavior never before seen in an LPT.

Detected by Australia’s SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, these pulses last for two minutes every 44.2 minutes, with a radio luminosity reaching 4×10^32 erg/s and X-ray luminosity varying from 7×10^32 to less than 6×10^31 erg/s.

The discovery was serendipitous. While ASKAP scanned the galactic plane, Chandra happened to observe the same region, revealing the X-ray pulses in perfect sync with the radio signals.

This synchronization, combined with the signal’s 92% polarization, suggests highly ordered magnetic fields, pointing to a complex underlying mechanism.

Astronomers are grappling with the question of what ASKAP J1832-0911 might be. Traditional candidates like pulsars or magnetars—highly magnetic neutron stars—don’t fully fit.

Pulsars typically spin rapidly, emitting beams of radiation that sweep past Earth like a lighthouse, with pulses occurring in milliseconds to seconds.

Magnetars, while capable of powerful bursts, usually fade within months, not years. Yet, ASKAP J1832’s slow, steady 44-minute cycle and persistent emissions over months challenge these models.

One hypothesis suggests a highly magnetized neutron star, but the absence of rapid rotation and the presence of X-ray emissions complicate this theory.

Another possibility is a binary system involving a white dwarf—a stellar remnant with the mass of the Sun compressed into an Earth-sized sphere—paired with a companion star. However, this would require an unprecedented magnetic field strength for a white dwarf in our galaxy.

The object’s extreme variability, with radio flux spanning three orders of magnitude, and its eventual dimming over months further deepen the mystery.

Unlike anything observed in the Milky Way, ASKAP J1832’s behavior suggests it may belong to a new class of cosmic objects or represent an unknown evolutionary phase of known stellar remnants.