WA team lead by Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker discover what could be rare star magnetar hidden in plain sight

WA researchers have discovered a mysterious space object hiding in plain sight for 30 years, prompting a rethink of our understanding of the universe.

Published on Thursday in the prestigious Nature journal, the findings of an international team led by Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker, from the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, reveal for the first time a new type of stellar object, 15,000 light-years from Earth.

Dr Hurley-Walker believes the object could be a rare type of star known as a magnetar, one of the most exotic and extreme phenomena in the universe, which can produce powerful bursts of energy at defined intervals.

However, unlike all previously observed magnetars, with intervals measured in seconds or a few minutes, this particular magnetar emits radio waves every 22 minutes.

Conventional theories suggested this was not possible, which is why no one realised Dr Hurley-Walker’s magnetar, detected at the Murchison Widefield Array on Wajarri Yamaji Country in outback Western Australia, has been showing up in astronomical observations for years.

Searching through the archives of radio telescopes around the world, the Curtin researcher found her magnetar appeared in sky surveys dating back to 1988, without anyone noticing it.

This in itself was noteworthy, because the aforementioned flawed theories held that magnetars were short-lived.

“I’ve discovered a new class of phenomenon that nobody can yet explain,” Dr Hurley-Walker told The West Australian.

“But the history of science is that we are constantly making these kinds of discoveries that challenge existing theories, and then we reconfigure our theories and we’re left with better theories that better explain the universe.”

The research team is planning further observations of the magnetar to learn more about its properties and behaviour, as well as hoping to discover more of these thus-far unexplained objects in the future.

“I call it a dance between theory and observation,” Dr Hurley Walker said.

“I think the important thing is just not to be too confined by theory, not to assume that what we think is definitely correct.

“One reason this whole object was discovered was because I didn’t know enough about what wasn’t possible.”