In a galaxy far, far away, strange objects beam radiation out into space. For years, these weird bodies have been hiding in plain sight\u2014but now new observations reveal they may be key to understanding the lives and deaths of galaxies.<\/p>\n
For decades, NASA\u2019s Chandra X-ray Observatory has been picking up the signal of these objects, but scientists had largely ignored the data. The radiation the objects emit is relatively low-energy compared with that of most stars, making it easy to dismiss as noise.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Scientists] didn\u2019t even know the objects were there,\u201d says Jimmy Irwin, a professor at the University of Alabama and a co-author of a new paper<\/a> published in Nature Astronomy that describes the odd objects. \u201cThey ignored the very, very lowest-energy channels because they thought they were unimportant.\u201d<\/p>\n On supporting science journalism<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n Irwin and his colleagues, Ph.D. candidate Mustafa Muhibullah and Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian lecturer Rosanne Di Stefano, didn\u2019t anticipate that they would find anything of note when they decided to go through the overlooked data just in case. Irwin compares the process to diving for treasure: you might find a long-lost gem, but you are far more likely to find a bunch of garbage.<\/p>\n The three scoured data collected by the Chandra space telescope <\/a>between 1999 and 2017 and painstakingly filtered out any random artifacts and other junk. They were left with the signatures of emissions of low-energy x-rays coming from what they call \u201chypersoft x-ray sources,\u201d a new type of celestial object.<\/p>\n But what exactly these objects are is a bit of a mystery because all that\u2019s known about them is roughly how bright and hot they are.<\/p>\n \u201cThey must be compact objects that are the remnants of stars,\u201d Di Stefano says, \u201ceither black holes<\/a>, neutron stars or white dwarfs, that are ripping material from the companion. And as the material falls, it emits at x-ray wavelengths.\u201d<\/p>\n They could also be a mixture of all of the above, Irwin says.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re probably a heterogeneous mix of different types of objects,\u201d he says. \u201cA hypersoft source isn\u2019t necessarily a type of object but a representation of what kind of energy is coming out.\u201d<\/p>\n Whatever they are, the researchers believe they\u2019re likely also emitting radiation in the more energetic extreme ultraviolet (EUV) range. Unfortunately, seeing objects in that range from Earth is difficult, if not impossible, because hydrogen gas and other stuff that lies in the space between star systems absorb most of those rays. As a result, most of these objects will likely remain hidden from view for all time, but there could be a countless number of them out there. Just a handful will ever be in places that allow them to be seen from our planet.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we had a telescope that was sensitive to EUV and we didn\u2019t have the fog, these sources would be booming bright in these galaxies, and they would not have been missed,\u201d Irwin says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sources that we see, each one represents many additional sources within the galaxy that we cannot see because the light never makes it out of the host galaxy,\u201d Di Stefano adds.<\/p>\n Even so, the few that are detectable could offer insight into how different celestial objects\u2014from black holes to galaxies\u2014form. The radiation from supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies<\/a>, called active galactic nuclei,<\/a> are generally credited with helping to ionize gas that later forms stars. Some galaxies lack these black holes but still have the ionized gas, and hypersoft emitters could help explain why.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing the tip of the iceberg,\u201d Di Stefano says.<\/p>\n Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism<\/p>\n Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That\u2019s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you\u2019ll join our community.<\/p>\n When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you\u2019re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You\u2019re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.<\/p>\n Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you\u2019ll consider joining us as a subscriber<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a galaxy far, far away, strange objects beam radiation out into space. 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