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- Fernando Duarte
- From the BBC World Service
Credit, Tyrone O’Doherty
Tyrone O’Doherty was 20 years old when he accidentally discovered a mysterious object in space, which made global news when it was published in a scientific study.
When Tyrone O’Doherty joined Australia’s International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) as a graduate student, his primary goal was to design a computer program that would help investigate radio waves in the Universe.
Instead, in November 2020, he came across an unidentified spinning object in our galaxy, the Milky Way. The discovery, followed by many months of checks, was finally announced in January of this year, in a study published in the scientific journal Nature.
“I was just trying to write code and I didn’t expect to come across something so exciting,” O’Doherty, 22, tells the BBC.
“There’s nothing known in heaven that does what it (object) does. And it also helped me graduate (university) with honors. So I can’t complain,” jokes the young man.
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transient objects
O’Doherty, who lives in Perth (Australia), explains that he was willing to develop a technique that would detect what astronomers call “transients”, objects in space that appear to “turn on and off”.
He had a list of possible objects, but he hadn’t found any so far.
Credit, ICRAR/Curtin
Image shows the Milky Way as seen from Earth, with a star icon to identify the position of the enigmatic object.
But it ended up inadvertently identifying something the ICRAR team says is “unlike anything we’ve seen before”, and a “frightening” discovery for an astronomer.
O’Doherty tells the BBC what is known so far about this enigmatic object.
What is it?
According to the young scientist, who was only 20 years old at the time of its discovery, there are two theories about what this object might be.
The first is that it is a white dwarf star – a term used to describe the residue of a collapsing star. The second is that it is a magnetar, a type of neutron star believed to have an extremely powerful magnetic field.
But the way the object behaves, says O’Doherty, has astronomers puzzled.
The object releases an enormous charge of energy for a full minute, every 18 minutes.
Objects that pulsate energy are relatively common in the Universe, but it is highly unusual for it to remain pulsating for a full minute.
“The time between each pulse is also very strange,” adds O’Doherty.
Credit, Getty Images
One possible explanation is that the object is an unusual neutron star, like the one seen in this photo.
So it could be a completely new celestial body.
Could the object bring danger to Earth?
O’Doherty admits that the circumstances of the discovery may draw comparisons to the satirical film. Don’t Look Uprecently released on the Netflix platform, in which a young astronomer discovers a comet on a collision course with Earth.
But the parallels stop there, says the scientist.
“There is no danger of this object hitting us and there is no cause for concern,” he explains.
O’Doherty also claims that the mysterious object is located about 4,000 light-years away.
“A light-year is the distance light can travel in one year, and the speed of light is the fastest speed it can travel in the Universe,” says O’Doherty.
“This object will not travel at a speed that is not even close to the speed of light.”
Could it be an alien?
“Initially, it’s very valid to ask yourself if he might be an alien,” says the scientist.
Credit, Curtis University
The Australian telescope used in the O’Doherty discovery; “I was just trying to write code and I didn’t expect to come across something so exciting,” he says.
The astronomer says that a radio signal that repeats itself after the same amount of time on the same frequency is “very reminiscent of what we expect to see from aliens”.
So much so that, he points out, the famous Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project is tracking the Universe in search of exactly this type of signal.
But unfortunately for those interested in extraterrestrial life, O’Doherty says a closer look at the mysterious object in the Milky Way has “made it clear” that it is not an alien.
First, the signal detected “over a wide range of frequencies” does not indicate that it is extraterrestrial intelligence; second, the energy required to produce a signal like the one detected by the mystery object is something “only a natural source could produce”.
Also, there was no content in the received signal.
“Then I can confirm that the signal didn’t come from aliens.”
Why was the discovery so excited by astronomers?
O’Doherty says anything unexpected often causes a stir in astronomy.
And this object is undoubtedly unexpected.
“It appears to spin much slower than a typical neutron star,” he explains.
“No one knows exactly what it is, so it becomes something exciting.”
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