GPM J1839−10
[ ] is a potentially unique ultra-long period
magnetar
A magnetar is a type of neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field (~109 to 1011 T, ~1013 to 1015 G). The magnetic-field decay powers the emission of high-energy electromagnetic radiation, particularly X-rays and gamma rays.Ward; Br ...
[ ][ ] located about 15,000
light-years
A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by the International Astro ...
away from Earth in the
Scutum constellation, in the
Milky Way
The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...
. It was discovered by a team of scientists at
Curtin University
Curtin University (previously Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology) is an Australian public university, public research university based in Bentley, Western Australia, Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. ...
using the
Murchison Widefield Array
The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is a joint project between an international consortium of organisations to construct and operate a low-frequency radio array. 'Widefield' refers to its very large field of view (on the order of 30 degrees ac ...
.
Its unusual characteristics violate current theory and prompted a search of other
radio telescope
A radio telescope is a specialized antenna (radio), antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the r ...
archives, including the
Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope
The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), located near Narayangaon, Pune in India, is an array of thirty fully steerable parabolic radio telescopes of 45 metre diameter, observing at metre wavelengths. It is the largest and most sensitive rad ...
and the
Very Large Array
The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) is a centimeter-wavelength radio astronomy observatory in the southwestern United States built in the 1970s. It lies in central New Mexico on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena, Ne ...
, which revealed evidence of the object dating back to 1988.
The signature of the object went unnoticed because scientists did not know to look for its unusual behavior.
The current understanding of
neutron star
A neutron star is the gravitationally collapsed Stellar core, core of a massive supergiant star. It results from the supernova explosion of a stellar evolution#Massive star, massive star—combined with gravitational collapse—that compresses ...
s is that below a certain rate of rotation, called "the death line", they cease emissions. Uniquely, not only does GPM J1839−10 have an extremely slow rotation of approximately twenty-two minutes, it emits bursts of radio waves lasting up to five minutes, for which there is currently no generally accepted explanation.
[ ]
See also
*
GLEAM-X J162759.5−523504.3
*
GCRT J1745−3009
*
PSR J0901–4046
PSR J0901–4046 is an ultra-long period pulsar. Its period, 75.9 seconds, is the longest for any known neutron star pulsar (some objects believed to be white dwarf pulsars, such as AR Scorpii, have longer periods). Its period is more tha ...
Further reading
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*
* Not open access.
*
References
Star types
Stellar phenomena
Unsolved problems in astronomy
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