内容摘要：Police and emergency personnel deal with an incident after a car collided with pedestrians near the Liver Building during the Premier League winners parade in Liverpool, England, Monday, May 26, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

Police and emergency personnel deal with an incident after a car collided with pedestrians near the Liver Building during the Premier League winners parade in Liverpool, England, Monday, May 26, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

Located 15,000 light-years away in a region ofbrimming with stars, gas and dust, this object could be a highly magnetized dead star like a neutron or white dwarf, Curtin University’s Ziteng Andy Wang said in an email from Australia.

Or it could be “something exotic” and unknown, said Wang, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature.NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory spotted the X-ray emissions by chance last year while focusing on a supernova remnant, or the remains of an exploded star. Wang said it was the first time X-rays had been seen coming from a so-called long-period radio transient, a rare object that cycles through radio signals over tens of minutes.Given the uncertain distance, astronomers can’t tell if the weird object is associated with the supernova remnant or not. A single light-year is 5.8 trillion miles.

The hyperactive phase of this object — designated ASKAP J1832−091 — appeared to last about a month. Outside of that period, the star did not emit any noticeable X-rays. That could mean more of these objects may be out there, scientists said.“While our discovery doesn’t yet solve the mystery of what these objects are and may even deepen it, studying them brings us closer to two possibilities,” Wang said. “Either we are uncovering something entirely new, or we’re seeing a known type of object emitting radio and X-ray waves in a way we’ve never observed before.”

Launched in 1999, Chandra orbits tens of thousands of miles (kilometers) above Earth, observing some of the hottest, high-energy objects in the universe.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.Cyclists take advantage of fine spring weather to ride a road between pastures at Pineland Farms, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in New Gloucester, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Cyclists take advantage of fine spring weather to ride a road between pastures at Pineland Farms, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in New Gloucester, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)New York Knicks forward OG Anunoby (8) shoots the ball past Indiana Pacers forward Obi Toppin (1) and guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) during the second half of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals of the NBA basketball playoffs in Indianapolis, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

New York Knicks forward OG Anunoby (8) shoots the ball past Indiana Pacers forward Obi Toppin (1) and guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) during the second half of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals of the NBA basketball playoffs in Indianapolis, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)A dog stands on its hind legs to watch its owner take a morning swim in the Pacific Ocean on an overcast, winter day in Lima, Peru, Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)