A very strange “sign” from the universe.

The universe is full of strange radio signals, but recently astronomers detected a truly puzzling signal that repeats every hour, passing through three different states, although they have some ideas about its origin that defy our current understanding of physics.

This signal first appeared in data collected by the Escape radio telescope in Australia that monitors a vast area of ​​the sky for transient pulses called ASKAP J1935+2148. It appears to repeat every 53 minutes, but what is really striking is that this signal passes for three different states.

Sometimes it emits bright flashes that last between 10 and 50 seconds and have a linear polarization, that is, all the radio waves point in the same direction, at other times the pulses are much weaker with a circular polarization and last only 370 milliseconds and occasionally the object remains completely silent.

What is intriguing is how this object exhibits three distinct emission states, each with totally different properties from the others, said Dr. Manisha Caleb, lead author of the study. The MeerKat radio telescope in South Africa was crucial in distinguishing between these states, “if the signals do not suggest from the same point in the sky we would not have believed it was the same object”, so what could be behind such a strange radio signal, let's make this clear, they are probably not extraterrestrials.

The most likely explanation according to scientists is that it comes from a neutron star or a white dwarf, but there is still a mystery, since the properties of the signal do not fit with what we know about these objects, neutron stars and White dwarfs are similar, but with some important differences, both are formed from the death of larger stars with the original mass determining whether the result is a neutron star or a white dwarf.

Neutron stars are known to emit radio waves regularly, making them prime suspects here, it is possible that such varied signals are produced by interactions between their strong magnetic fields and complex plasma flows, however, there is a large problem, neutron stars generally spin at speeds of seconds or fractions of a second per revolution and it should be physically impossible for them to spin as slowly as once every 54 minutes.

White dwarfs on the other hand can rotate slowly but we still do not know how they could produce the observed radio signals, this is not the first repeated radio signal from space that perplexes scientists, years ago a signal with a cycle of 18 minutes, which should also be impossible; This new signal is not only longer but also more complex, deepening the mystery.

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