A Very Strange Star
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Read the news release: https://chandra.si.edu/press/25_releases/press_052825.html
Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Video imagery:
- Labeled, wide-field image of ASKAP J1832 in X-ray, radio, and infrared light. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/ICRAR, Curtin Univ./Z. Wang et al.; Infrared: NASA/JPL/CalTech/IPAC; Radio: SARAO/MeerKAT; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk
- Graph of ASKAP J1832’s radio and X-ray intensity cycle: NASA/CXC/ICRAR, Curtin Univ./Z. Wang et al.
- Labeled image of ASKAP J1832 in X-ray and radio. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/ICRAR, Curtin Univ./Z. Wang et al.; Radio: SARAO/MeerKAT
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Images of nebulae, galaxies, stars, a Mars rover, Jupiter, and other space phenomena fill the background. Text: News From the Universe.
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A very strange star. June 9, 2025. In deep space, a yellow star cluster is surrounded by yellow and orange gases. To the right there is a large arc of red gasses, with various colored stars in the black background. Text: Scientists are gathering new intriguing information on a mysterious star behaving like nothing seen before.
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A purple star within the red arc of gases is circled and labeled A.S.K.A.P. J 1 8 3 2 dash 0 9 1 1. Text: The star, named A.S.K.A.P. J 1 8 3 2 dash 0 9 1 1, is a member of a new class of astronomical objects called "long period radio transients" that were only recently discovered in 2022.
Combined data from the S.K.A. (Square Kilometer Array) Pathfinder telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory show that the star cycles in both radio and X-ray intensity every 44 minutes. Two line graphs appear above the star, the top labeled Radio Brightness and the bottom labeled X-ray brightness. The x-axis is measured in Phase from 0.0 to 2.0, and A.S.K.A.P. radio brightness is flat except for two peaks at roughly 0.4 and 1.4, while the Chandra x-ray graph has similar peaks but is bumpy in between the peaks rather than flat.
Text: The star's X-ray and radio light has also dropped off dramatically over the course of six months. These features have made the star difficult to define for astronomers, as it doesn't quite fit the behavior of a neutron star or a white dwarf, with or without a companion star. We focus closely on the star, purplish-pink in the red gas arc.
We view the star from a distance. Text: Astronomers are excited by the mystery and challenge of analyzing A.S.K.A.P. J 1 8 3 2 dash 0 9 1 1.
"Finding a mystery like this isn't frustrating — it's what makes science exciting!" said researcher Dr. Tong Bao.
This news was brought to you in part by the Chandra X-Ray Center in Cambridge, M.A.