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It radiates a signal around every 18 minutes. It sounds like a pulsar. How is it unlike “Mysterious object unlike anything astronomers have seen before”? This b
by ianai 5y ago
It radiates a signal around every 18 minutes. It sounds like a pulsar. How is it unlike “Mysterious object unlike anything astronomers have seen before”? This being the current title.
- adrianN 5y agoIt says in the article that pulses from pulsars are usually much shorter than what is detected from this object.
- MauranKilom 5y ago> pulses from pulsars are usually much shorter ...and more frequent.
- okokwhatever 5y agoThen it's a slow pulsar LOL Sorry, I had to make it :)
- delcaran 5y agoArticle says it's a theoretically possible object described as "slow magnetar".
- okokwhatever 5y agoDon't be so serious my friend, it was an easy joke, i know :)
- ianai 5y agoIs that really that mysterious? Just seems they went out of their way for clickbaity title.
- dekhn 5y agoThat's correct. The original paper doesn't call it mysterious, just "unusual". Science PR people are under a lot of stress to get pageviews.
- rbanffy 5y agoThe original description was most likely “hmmm… that’s funny”.
- Vetch 5y agoThe mysterious (unpredicted/as yet unexplained) aspect is the precise physics of its emission properties. It's a refinement of known physics sure, but that doesn't make it less interesting. Not unlike how finally completing a full physics accounting for how bicycles remain upright would be fascinating even if positively pedestrian.
- equalsione 5y agoPulsars usually "pulse" very rapidly and in very short bursts[0]. This one pulses only once every 18 minutes, but in bursts that seem to last for a minute. Some articles mention the possibility of a star-quake which as I _think_ could be caused by either further decay of the magnetar, or the magnetar absorbing more mass [0] - https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/physics-and-astronomy/radio-pulsars#:~:text=At%20present%2C%20the%20shortest%20interval%20between%20successive%20pulses%20is%20about%201.5%C3%9710%E2%88%923%20%C2%A0s%20and%20the%20longest%20is%20about%205%C2%A0s https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/physics-and-astronomy/r....
- valyagolev 5y agoto continue our idle lazy speculation game “explain the title without really reading”, perhaps it’s just doppler effect…
- MauranKilom 5y agoDoppler effect would reduce both the emission interval as well as the radio frequency. Not to mention that an object (which is comparatively close to us, i.e. not just red-shifted due to distance) would have to move at very close to the speed of light to be red-shifted that much. Now that would be unlike anything we've seen before...
- pizza234 5y agoGist of the article: > Dr Hurley-Walker said the observations match a predicted astrophysical object called an ‘ultra-long period magnetar’. > “It’s a type of slowly spinning neutron star that has been predicted to exist theoretically,” she said. > “But nobody expected to directly detect one like this because we didn’t expect them to be so bright. > “Somehow it’s converting magnetic energy to radio waves much more effectively than anything we’ve seen before.”
- Trombone12 5y agoThe abstract of the article suggests it is a magnetar, which depending on your mood could be counted as a type of pulsar, though it's probably more sensible to label both as types of neutron stars. > By measuring the dispersion of the radio pulses with respect to frequency, we have localized the source to within our own Galaxy and suggest that it could be an ultra-long-period magnetar.
- dekhn 5y agobut... magnetars aren't mysterious or unlike anything astronomers have seen. The most the press release says is that it's brighter or closer than previous ones.
- ceejayoz 5y agoThe article is quite clear that this one exhibits characteristics predicted, but not previously observed, and with some surprises. > But Dr Anderson said finding something that turned on for a minute was really weird. > Dr Hurley-Walker said the observations match a predicted astrophysical object called an ‘ultra-long period magnetar’. > “But nobody expected to directly detect one like this because we didn’t expect them to be so bright. “Somehow it’s converting magnetic energy to radio waves much more effectively than anything we’ve seen before.”
- dekhn 5y agothis is not what astronomers or physicists think is mysterious. Just unexpected, and within the bounds of normal physical science. Everybody who is complaining that the PR about the paper is clickbait is right. The PR is just clickbait. The paper is not.
- idiotsecant 5y agoIf I saw a bright pink duck I would wonder how that duck came to be. If someone called it's origins mysterious I wouldn't write a string of angry HN posts about it, I don't think.
- joshuahedlund 5y agoBecause the level of "unlike"-ness exists on a spectrum, so the headline can be technically correct while implying a position on the spectrum much farther than it actually is.
- colordrops 5y agoReading the article would dispel your confusion.
- BatteryMountain 5y agoInterstellar light house?
- rbanffy 5y agoWe can already use pulsars for that, but this one being so unique would be very convenient. OTOH, you won’t be able to make multiple observations in a short period.