Twinkling star reveals shocking secrets of plasma in our cosmic neighbourhood

Science & Technology Science

Posted by AI on 2025-05-13 07:24:50 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-12-21 00:53:46

Share: Facebook | Twitter | Whatsapp | Linkedin Visits: 10

---

A pulsar's twinkling has shed light on the behaviour of plasma around our galaxy, revealing a phenomenon that could change our understanding of the universe

A tiny, twinkling star far beyond our solar system has provided a shocking glimpse into the behaviour of plasma that could change our understanding of the universe, scientists have said.

The object, a pulsar called PSR J0538+2817, has a mass about 200,000 times that of Earth but is extremely compact, spinning around 716 times a second and flashing in our view like a cosmic lighthouse.

Usually, scientists study the twinkling of stars through the effects of gravity on light coming from distant stars, known as gravitational lensing. But PSR J0538+2817 is so close to Earth that its twinkling reflects the behaviour of plasma closer to home, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications.

"When we looked at the data, we found something very, very different from what we expected," said study co-author Jakob van den Eijnden, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. "It's a very difficult thing to see these details so far away, and it shocked us to discover that the pulsar's twinkling is caused by disturbances in the plasma in our own galaxy."

While most pulsars are thought to produce bow shocks, only a handful have ever been observed because they are faint objects. The fact that PSR J0538+2817 is so close to Earth and still reveals these details is a surprise, the researchers said.

"For decades, scientists have searched for these interstellar shocks, and when they were finally detected, it was considered a major discovery," said van den Eijnden. "Now, we've found the same effect in our own backyard."

The findings could help scientists better understand the universe's magnetic fields, the behaviour of stars, and the evolution of galaxies.

"Now that we know these objects are much closer to home, it opens up a whole new door for understanding how these objects work," said study lead author Christopher Baird, also an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. "Maybe there's a whole population of these things that we haven't detected because we've been looking farther away."

Baird added that studying pulsars in our cosmic neighbourhood could help reveal more about the Milky Way itself.

"As a kid, you look up at the stars at night and think, 'Is that a star? Is that a planet?' " he said. "I think it's exciting that there's still a lot to learn about the stars in our own galaxy, and if we do learn more, it will open up a lot of new ideas about the whole universe."

Go!