International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research

The team identified a new radio source (white square) in the center of the cluster (red circle) Credit: Paduano et al.A global team of astronomers has created the most sensitive radio image ever of a globular cluster, an ancient ball of tightly-packed stars.The image is of the second brightest globular cluster in the night sky—known as 47 Tucanae—and was produced by a team led by the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Western Australia.The scientists also detected a…

An intensely magnetic neutron star roughly 15,000 light-years from Earth is stumping astronomers with its ultra long periods, unleashing radio waves into the cosmos every 22 minutes.“Dungeons & Dragons is My Nerdy Obsession” | First FandomsNeutron stars with intense magnetic fields are called magnetars. Now, 22-minute periods may sound relatively frequent in Earthly time scales, but most magnetars have periods between a few seconds and a few minutes. The team’s research describing the object was published this week in…