Beijing – A Chinese research team led by Zhang Li has succeeded in achieving an unprecedented astronomical breakthrough by detecting extremely faint radio pulses emitted by a neutron star that had been believed for many years to be “silent.” This discovery, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, opens entirely new horizons for understanding the nature of compact objects residing in the centers of supernova remnants, reshaping our understanding of compact celestial bodies.
The Mystery of Silent Central Objects
When a massive star explodes at the end of its life, its core collapses, leaving behind either a black hole or a dense neutron star. Some of these neutron stars rotate rapidly and emit jets of charged particles, which we know as “pulsars.” However, for years, scientists remained unable to detect signals from about 12 neutron stars known to be in the centers of supernova remnants, leading the scientific community to classify them as “Central Compact Objects” (CCOs), assuming their magnetic fields were too weak to emit detectable radio signals.
A “Blue Eye” Finally Speaks
Using an advanced radio telescope in South Africa, the Chinese team focused its efforts on the object known as “1E 1207.4-5209,” located 10,000 light-years from Earth. To the scientists’ surprise, the team picked up precise radio pulses repeating every 424 milliseconds, a timing that perfectly matches the star’s rotation speed, confirming it is a real pulsar but one that is “very faint.” Because of the star’s distinctive glow in X-ray images, astronomer Li Di dubbed it the “Blue Eye Pulsar.”
A “Rotation Quake” Changes the Rules of the Game
Researchers believe that this star experienced a sudden “rotation quake” in 2015, which is a violent internal disturbance in the dense materials composing the star. The research team suggests that this space geophysical event may have redirected or strengthened the star’s magnetic field, allowing it to temporarily emit radio signals that could be detected. Since the star is in a gradual deceleration phase to return to its original speed before the quake, these signals are expected to fade and disappear again over time.
Redrawing the Galaxy Map
This discovery is not just the observation of a single star; it changes our entire understanding of the number of compact objects in the Milky Way galaxy. If this star was faint due to its age or specific physical conditions, it could mean that there are huge numbers of “quiet” pulsars in our galaxy that we have failed to discover yet because they haven’t experienced such a quake. This may also explain the mystery surrounding some famous supernovae, such as the “1987A” explosion, where evidence of a neutron star remains present in theories, despite the absolute radio silence that has baffled scientists for many years.
