An international squad of stargazer has observe two strange and extremely bright sources that might be a completely new type of cosmic explosion .
The scientist are calling them flares . These two object became about a hundred times brighter in 10 - rays in less than a minute , and then returned to their original luminosity about an 60 minutes later .
" We ’ve never go out anything like this , " said wind writer Jimmy Irwin of the University of Alabama in astatement . " Astronomers have date many different objects that flare up , but these may be examples of an wholly unexampled phenomenon . "
The study , which appeared in the journalNature , report the flares as ultraluminous ten - shaft sources ( ULXs ) , but their true nature is unnamed .
" Now that we ’ve reveal these flaring objects , observational astronomers and theorists alike are going to be crop heavily to figure out what ’s happening , " say Centennial State - author Gregory Sivakoff of the University of Alberta .
Galaxy NGC 5128 with the ultraluminous ten - ray flare . NASA / CXC / UA / J.Irwin et al
One suggestion is that the target are binary star systems made of a thick source like a ignominious hole or a neutron star and with a normal star orb it . At least , that is what they appear to be like from the observations by theChandra X - ray scope .
But these binaries are not known to flare up like this . So , the researchers offer a more eccentric orbit for their stellar fellow traveler ; when it gets too close to the black maw ( or neutron star ) , the gravity of the latter pull aside material . The acute forces heat up this stuff to millions of level and it flares up in X - shaft of light . As the fabric is take over , the luminosity is thin out again .
" These flares are over-the-top , " say co - generator Peter Maksym of the Harvard - Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics . " For a abbreviated flow , one of the generator became one of the shining ULX to ever be seen in an elliptical coltsfoot . "
One flare seems to be associated with NGC 4636 , a galaxy 47 million calorie-free - years from Earth . The other is near NGC 5128 at a space of 14 million light - years from us . This latter object was seen flame up five clip .
The squad looked at several thousand sources from nearby galaxy , but these two seem to be the only ones exhibiting this peculiar behavior .
