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Cover author: Michał Kałużny http://astrofotografia.pl/

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Something in space has been lighting up every 20 minutes since 1988 (arstechnica.com)

submitted 1 year ago by readbeanicecream@kbin.social to c/space@kbin.social

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We have no explanations for this sort of slow repeat.

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[–] niktemadur@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The article makes no mention of the possibility of this being a binary system of some sort, although I would guess the physics involved for this type of burst are equally lacking in current models.

[–] stevecrox@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Because that doesn't fit.

The object sends X-ray pulses for 30-300 seconds every 22 minutes.

For a binary star system we would expect to see pulses while the neutron star is not behind the star and a short period without any pulses while the other star blocks it. Which is the inverse of the recorded pattern

In a tertiary or greater star system you could have longer periods where the star is blocked but the time between pulses would vary depending on the positions of other stars.

Personally I think it will end up being a pulsar that is slowing down and becoming a regular neutron star with something externally adding/removing mass from it causing it to speed up again.