Spinning object near Milky Way catches scientists off guard

A group of Australian scientists claimed to have discovered an unidentified spinning object in the Milky Way which is nothing like before, according to a report by the England-based news agency the BBC.

The strange object – that was first discovered by Curtin University Honours student Tyrone O’Doherty – was seen releasing radio energy for a full minute every 18 minutes.

There have been witness accounts of radio energy being in the system. However, experts believe that it was unusual to see it happening for a minute.

The scientists are doing further research about the object.

The student came up with a new technique for discovering the object. He is a member of a team led by astrophysicist Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR).

“[It] was appearing and disappearing over a few hours during our observations,” Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker was quoted as saying in a press release. “That was completely unexpected. It was kind of spooky for an astronomer because there’s nothing known in the sky that does that.”

The word to describe the switching on to off in the universe is transients. Astrophysicist Dr Gemma Anderson added that it was weird to see it for a full minute.

ICRAR, after going through the records, established that it is 4,000 light-years from Earth which comes with a strong magnetic field and incredible brightness.

There is a mystery surrounding the phenomenon despite theories on it.

“More detections will tell astronomers whether this was a rare one-off event or a vast new population we’d never noticed before,” Dr Hurley-Walker said. “I’m looking forward to understanding this object and then extending the search to find more.”