Do you know there’s an object in space astronomers named ‘unicorn’? This cute name was given to a really weird blinking light astronomers spotted while observing the sky. You might think it was a star or a spaceship, but it wasn’t… it was something totally different because it didn’t blink randomly. Instead, it followed a strange rhythm, like it had its own beat. Are you curious to know more about this ‘unicorn’ in space? Let’s see what makes this mysterious light so special and if it matters for the future.
A unicorn in space? Well… almost
Looking at the sky is a common thing to do, but one day some astronomers were doing this and they found something incredible: the CHIME J1634+44. This caught their attention because it was blinking in a very strange way. However, the most curious thing is that they’ve compared it to a “unicorn” in space, because it’s unique and unlike anything they’ve seen before. (More beautiful and easier name to call this strange object, right?).
This object is thousands of light-years away from Earth (really, really far!) and behaves in a way that nobody really understands. It lights up, goes dark, lights up again… but it does this on two different time intervals: one every 14 minutes, and another every 70 minutes. That’s already pretty strange. But what’s more, it seems to be spinning faster and faster, which usually doesn’t happen in space.
What is this strange object?
Scientists believe it could be a very small and very dense star, something that’s left behind after a big star “dies.” There are two types that could fit: white dwarfs and neutron stars. Both are super compact, like fitting a ton of stuff into a super tiny box. Neutron stars, for example, can have more mass than the Sun but are only about 20 kilometers wide. They’re incredibly dense.
And why does it blink?
That’s what they are trying to figure out. Some neutron stars emit radio waves regularly, like they’re sending signals into space. These are called pulsars, and scientists think this object could be one of them. But there are others who think it could be a white dwarf that also emits this kind of signal, although that’s much more rare.
What’s clear is that this object doesn’t behave like anything they have seen before. For example, its light is “polarized” in a completely perfect way, something never seen in an object like this. It’s like it’s following a rule we don’t know yet.
What now?
Astronomers want to keep observing it more closely and find out more about it. Sometimes in science, when something doesn’t fit what was known before, that’s when the important discoveries begin. CHIME J1634+44 could help us understand much more about how these strange stars work, and whether there are more like it hiding out there. In case they are really important for us, it would be a good idea to see if there are more ‘unicorns’ to study.
What does all this mean for us?
Well, it means that the universe still holds many mysteries, and that we’re far from knowing everything. Something that seems as simple as a blinking light could actually hide enormous secrets and lead to big questions and even bigger answers. So, who knows what else is out there, hidden among the stars? The universe won’t stop surprising astronomers (and us) because there are so many places still to discover out there. Until then, keep looking up, the universe might just surprise you. Have you ever seen any strange object up there in the sky?