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Scientists working at Curtin University recently stumbled across a baffling phenomenon in their data that has their team of radio astronomers scratching their heads. An honors student named Tyrone O’Doherty discovered the source while using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescope in Western Australia. The mystery object gave off intense light in approximately 20-minute intervals, which had previously been unheard of for a ‘transient’, the field’s term for objects that pulse on and off. Most transients either flicker much slower, in the range of days to months, or extremely rapidly, in seconds or even milliseconds. The object also emitted frequencies at a much greater intensity than expected, possibly outshining even the immense power of a supermassive black hole. Lead astrophysicist Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker poured over 8 years of data recorded by the MWA and found 70 more instances of the phenomenon over a 3-month period in 2018 after which the object stopped picking up, adding to the confusion. Scientists were able to determine the object is approximately 4000 lightyears away from us, based on the transmission frequencies present in the pulses. They also concluded the pulses were polarized, meaning they likely came from a source of strong magnetism, and the shape of the pulses indicated the object that produced them was much smaller than our sun.

These factors lead astrophysicists to believe the object is either a white dwarf or neutron star, the remnants of a star dying and collapsing into itself. And while they have never been observed, theorists believe neutron stars called “ultra-long period magnetars”, objects that behave similarly to the unknown phenomenon, could exist. They however did not predict that they could be so bright. Dr Hurley-Walker is continuing to monitor the object to see if it begins emitting energy again, with plans to search for more object that behave in this manner.

Click here, for an article by Dr Hurley-Walker on the discovery, or here for another article.

For past space blogs by Lenox Laser, click here.

A new study researching one of the moon’s biggest mysteries may have been solved; how did the moon form a temporary magnetic field? A team of experts at Stanford and Brown Universities are now seeking answers with rock samples taken from the surface and their formations. According to early evidence, it was theorized that the field came from the liquid mantle of the moon during its first billion years of existence, when several rocks sank into it. The magnetic fields would be strong, but sporadic. It is unable to exist now because the moon’s frigid temperatures. To help find further proof of this theory, rocks from all the past Apollo missions from 1968 to 1972 were studied thoroughly. The rocks had signs of the magnetic field, but it does not explain how it could exist when it’s not even as strong as Earth’s.

Another theory the researchers have is planets and planetary bodies that surround the moon could have given these magnetic fields, however temporary, energy. The slow dispersal of heat from this activity could have given the moon’s then molten core enough heat and energy to help aid in the production of temporary magnetic fields. Minerals like anorthosite floated to the moon’s crust surface, along with titanium from the molten core. A process known as gravitational overturn would happen causing the rocks to sink into the moon’s mantle. Using these findings new models within created giving the team simulations of what happened. Scientists found that all cooling layers of magma led to a convection process that laid the foundation for the magnetic field.

For further reading on this discovery, click here, and here.

Click here, to read other Lenox Laser posts covering recent aerospace developments.