The discovery of an object called ASKAP J1832-0911 has left astronomers puzzled. This mysterious entity emits pulses of radio waves and X-rays for two minutes every 44 minutes. What makes this finding even more intriguing is that it’s the first time such an object, known as a long-period transient (LPT), has been detected in X-rays.

The team behind this discovery used the ASKAP radio telescope to detect the radio signals, which they then correlated with X-ray pulses detected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. This coincidence of observations allowed them to confirm that ASKAP J1832-0911 is indeed emitting both types of radiation.

LPTs are a relatively recent discovery, with only ten such objects found so far. Scientists still have no clear explanation for what causes these signals or why they ‘switch on’ and ‘switch off’ at such long, regular intervals. Some theories suggest that ASKAP J1832-0911 could be a magnetar or a pair of stars in a binary system with one star being a highly magnetised white dwarf.

However, even these theories don’t fully explain what’s being observed. This discovery might indicate the existence of new types of physics or models of stellar evolution. By detecting objects like ASKAP J1832-0911 using both X-rays and radio waves, scientists hope to find more examples and gain a better understanding of their nature.

The discovery of ASKAP J1832-0911 is not only significant for the scientific community but also showcases an incredible teamwork effort between researchers across the globe. The study’s findings have been published in Nature, and the object itself is located in our Milky Way galaxy about 15,000 light-years from Earth.

The discovery of ongoing surface modification on Jupiter’s moon Europa has been made possible by recent experiments conducted by Southwest Research Institute’s Dr. Ujjwal Raut and his team. Analyzing spectral data collected by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), they found evidence that Europa’s icy surface is constantly changing, with crystalline ice forming at different rates in various areas.

On Earth, water ice forms a crystalline structure when water molecules arrange into a hexagonal pattern during freezing. However, on Europa’s surface, exposed water ice is bombarded by charged particles from space, disrupting the crystalline structure and creating amorphous ice. The experiments conducted by Dr. Raut’s team demonstrated that this process occurs rapidly in some areas of Europa’s surface.

The combination of JWST data and laboratory results reveals a complex interplay between external processes and geologic activity affecting the surface. Researchers have long believed that Europa’s surface is covered by a thin layer of amorphous ice, protecting crystalline ice beneath. However, this new study found crystalline ice on the surface as well as at depth in certain areas, particularly in the Tara Regio region.

“We think that the surface is fairly porous and warm enough in some areas to allow the ice to recrystallize rapidly,” said Dr. Richard Cartwright, lead author of the paper and a spectroscopist at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory. “Also, in this same region, generally referred to as a chaos region, we see a lot of other unusual things, including the best evidence for sodium chloride, like table salt, probably originating from its interior ocean.”

The presence of CO2 and hydrogen peroxide on Europa’s surface is another striking feature of this study. These chemicals are believed to originate from the moon’s subsurface ocean, nearly 20 miles (30 kilometers) beneath its icy shell.

“Our data showed strong indications that what we are seeing must be sourced from the interior, perhaps from a subsurface ocean,” said Dr. Raut. “This region of fractured surface materials could point to geologic processes pushing subsurface materials up from below.”

The findings of this study have significant implications for our understanding of Europa’s surface and its potential habitability. The presence of liquid water beneath the ice, along with other substances like CO2 and hydrogen peroxide, suggests that life may be present on this moon, making it an exciting destination for future exploration.

The discovery of Titan’s mysterious wobbling atmosphere has been revealed by researchers at the University of Bristol for the first time. By analyzing data from the Cassini-Huygens mission, a joint venture between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency, the team has shown that the thick, hazy atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon doesn’t spin in line with its surface, but instead wobbles like a gyroscope, shifting with the seasons.

Titan is the only moon in our Solar System with a significant atmosphere, and one that has long captivated planetary scientists. Now, after 13 years of thermal infrared observations from Cassini, researchers have tracked how Titan’s atmosphere tilts and shifts over time. The behavior of Titan’s atmospheric tilt is very strange,” said Lucy Wright, lead author and postdoctoral researcher at Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences. “Titan’s atmosphere appears to be acting like a gyroscope, stabilizing itself in space.”

The team studied the symmetry of Titan’s atmospheric temperature field and found that it isn’t centered exactly on the pole, as expected. Instead, it shifts over time, in step with Titan’s long seasonal cycle – each year on Titan lasts nearly 30 years on Earth.

Professor Nick Teanby, co-author and planetary scientist at Bristol, said: “What’s puzzling is how the tilt direction remains fixed in space, rather than being influenced by the Sun or Saturn. That would’ve given us clues to the cause. Instead, we’ve got a new mystery on our hands.”

This discovery will impact NASA’s upcoming Dragonfly mission, a drone-like rotorcraft scheduled to arrive at Titan in the 2030s. As Dragonfly descends through the atmosphere, it will be carried by Titan’s fast-moving winds – winds that are about 20 times faster than the rotation of the surface.

Understanding how the atmosphere wobbles with the seasons is crucial for calculating the landing trajectory of Dragonfly. The tilt affects how the payload will be carried through the air, so this research can help engineers better predict where it will touch down.

Dr Conor Nixon, planetary scientist at NASA Goddard and co-author of the study, added: “Our work shows that there are still remarkable discoveries to be made in Cassini’s archive. This instrument, partly built in the UK, journeyed across the Solar System and continues to give us valuable scientific returns.”

The team’s findings contribute to a growing body of research suggesting Titan is not just Earth-like in appearance but an alien world with climate systems all its own, and many secrets still hidden beneath its golden haze.