Astronomers have spotted a powerful explosion from an unknown object in space using data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The bright flash was hidden in old archive data collected by NASA’s telescope in May 2020.
Researchers believe it could be the first recorded X-ray burst in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy or a flare coming out of a magnetar, a type of neutron star with extremely powerful magnetic fields. However, they are unsure what caused the flash and how to categorize it.
The observation was made using a novel machine learning approach that allowed researchers to look back at over 20 years of archived data. They discovered the X-ray flash while analyzing images from a NASA space telescope studying the leftovers of an exploded star in a nearby galaxy.
The team, led by PhD student Steven Dillmann, is excited about the discovery, which highlights the potential for artificial intelligence in scientific discovery. “This discovery reminds us that space is dynamic and ever-changing, with exciting phenomena occurring constantly,” said Dr. Dillmann.
The finding has been published in a new paper titled “Representation learning for time-domain high-energy astrophysics: Discovery of extragalactic fast X-ray transient XRT 200515” in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society journal.
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/space/explosion-space-mystery-magnetar-flash-x-ray-b2699857.html