Extremely rare space object discovered in the Milky Way

An extremely rare space object was discovered by astronomers on June 7, 2022. It has not previously been listed in astronomical catalogs. Now astronauts have officially confirmed that this object is an accreting X-ray millisecond pulsar. Although more research is needed, scientists believe the pulsar is an addition to the already known 18 similar stars in the Milky Way, ScienceAlert reports.

The X-ray light of the object was recorded by the instrument of the Japan Space Agency – MAXI. It is installed on the ISS. According to Hitoshi Negoro of Nihon University in Japan, the pulsar is about 30,000 light-years from Earth. He was given the name MAXI J1816-195.

Also, the NICER device recorded X-ray radiation from the new object. His data showed that the object rotates around its axis at a speed of 528.6 times per second.

Recall that pulsars are called neutron stars, which are distinguished by small objects and high density. They appear after a supernova explosion. Their diameter does not exceed 20 km, but in their mass they are twice as heavy as the Sun.

Also, a neutron star, which is called a pulsar, must emit radiation beams and have a magnetic field. Because pulsars spin, they can fire hundreds of pulses per second.

There are also pulsars that are very close to the star. They take matter away from the star, a process called accretion. Getting on a neutron star, the substance explodes, flashes appear. Sometimes this process of accretion leads to the fact that the star begins to rotate strongly. This is exactly what the new pulsar is.