Scientists are assuming that they may represent a new type of stellar object. (Representational Image)
Scientists have discovered two stars with mysterious properties. The astronomers found the celestial objects emitting radio waves about every 20 minutes. The most common repeating signals come from pulsars, rotating neutron stars that emit energetic beams like lighthouses, causing them to blink on and off as they rotate towards and away from the Earth, according to National Geographic. Scientists are assuming that they may represent a new type of stellar object.
The two stars which were announced in the journal Nature spin much more slowly than any known neutron star and they have other odd traits as well.
Astronomer Natasha Hurley-Walker of Curtin University in Bentley, Western Australia said, "We are all still quite amazed and intrigued and baffled."
The scientists found out about the mystery in 2021 after they discovered a slowly repeating radio pulse embedded in archival data from 2018. The object was blinking for three months but soon the activity had died down and it became invisible in the skies.
According to a paper published in the journal Nature, the scientists suggested that the object could be a rare type of magnetar and named it GLEAM-X J162759.5-523504.3. The star sent out a pulse every 18 minutes instead of every few seconds like known magnetars.
The scientists then started looking for other similar objects in the space. In June 2022, Natasha Hurley-Walker and her team observed the night sky for three nights with the Murchison Widefield Array in Western Australia, they found a radio flash every 21 minutes.
According to archival data, it's been doing that at least since 1988. It's called GPM J1839-10.
For now, the researchers are assuming that both the objects are same. But why would one flash for three months and the other for 33 years and counting? "I don't know," Hurley-Walker told National Geographic, "That's the problem."