A “deceptive monster” transmits mysterious frequencies from space captured by an Australian telescope
Astronomers have detected radio signals so close to the center of the galaxy that they have not been able to figure out what type of cosmic object would best suit its peculiar properties.
"The frequency may represent part of a new class of objects being discovered through radioimaging surveys," explained the team of astronomers led by Ziting Wang of the University of Sydney, Australia.
The frequency, ASKAP J173608.2-32163, was detected using the Australian Pathfinder Square Kilometer Array (ASKAP), one of the most sensitive radio telescopes ever built, designed to delve deeper into the radio universe.
Scientists note, according to the global website "Science Alert", that the frequency is highly variable, emits radio waves for weeks at a time, and then disappears in rapid timescales.
The signal is also highly polarized, that is, the direction of oscillation of the electromagnetic wave is twisted, linear and circular.
Scientists say it's a "beast deceptive to discover", and whatever this object may be, it had not been seen before ASKAP's discoveries, which were made during an experimental survey of the sky for passing radio sources.
Between April 2019 and August 2020, the signal appeared in the data 13 times.
Follow-up observations in April and July of 2020, using a different radio telescope, Murriyang in Parks, Australia, yielded nothing.
But the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa was able to pick up the signals, in February 2021. The Australian Integrated Telescope Consortium (ATCA) also made the detection in April 2021.
This supports and validates ASKAP's detections, but it also indicates that the source is quite elusive, as the source has not appeared in X-ray and near-infrared observations, nor in archives of radio data collected by multiple instruments examined by astronomers.
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