Astronomers Detect Bizarre Object Emitting Mysterious Signals Every 44 Minutes

A strange and unexplained object lurking deep within our Milky Way galaxy has caught the attention of astronomers — and it’s unlike anything we’ve seen before.

An international team of scientists announced this week that they’ve detected a celestial object that emits both X-rays and radio waves in a repeating cycle every 44 minutes, at least during intense bursts of activity. The discovery, published in Nature, hints at either a new kind of astrophysical phenomenon or a known object behaving in ways never previously observed.

The mysterious source, located around 15,000 light-years from Earth in a dense, star-packed region of the Milky Way, has been designated ASKAP J1832−091. What makes it truly intriguing is that its dual emissions of X-rays and radio waves line up almost perfectly, repeating over a precise 44-minute window during periods of activity.

A Cosmic Coincidence — Or a New Kind of Star?

Lead researcher Ziteng Andy Wang from Curtin University in Australia said the object might be a highly magnetized dead star like a neutron star or white dwarf. However, he added, “it could be something exotic and completely unknown to science.”

The object first appeared on astronomers’ radar last year, when NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory picked up unexpected X-ray emissions while observing a nearby supernova remnant — the ghostly remains of an exploded star. The signals coincided with previously known radio pulses from ASKAP J1832−091, making it the first time such X-ray activity had been associated with a so-called long-period radio transient, a rare type of object known for emitting sporadic radio signals over extended intervals.

The researchers are currently unsure whether ASKAP J1832−091 is physically linked to the neighboring supernova remnant or simply shares the same part of the sky by chance. Interestingly, the object’s hyperactive phase appeared to last for about a month. Outside of that window, it fell silent, emitting no detectable X-rays — suggesting that other, similar objects might be hiding in plain sight across the cosmos, waiting to flare up.

So… What Could It Be?

While the nature of ASKAP J1832−091 remains a mystery, astronomers are now contemplating two possibilities: either they’re witnessing a completely new class of celestial object, or they’ve found a familiar one emitting signals in a totally unfamiliar way.

As for my own speculative theory? The object’s behavior — powerful X-ray and radio bursts in a tightly repeating cycle — hints at the possibility of an ultra-slow magnetar: a neutron star with an insanely strong magnetic field rotating at a much slower rate than typical magnetars. Magnetars are known to produce both X-rays and radio waves, though usually over much shorter periods. An object like this could challenge what we currently believe about how these extreme remnants behave.

Alternatively, if it turns out not to be a dead star at all, we might be looking at the first sign of a previously unclassified exotic object — perhaps a hybrid between a white dwarf and a neutron star, or something entirely new lurking in the stellar graveyards of our galaxy.

Either way, the discovery of ASKAP J1832−091 is a thrilling reminder that the universe still has plenty of surprises left for us.