Weirdly 'slow' neutron star challenges our understanding of stellar corpses

[Admin]

Astronomers have observed a 'slow' magnetar releasing bursts of radio waves every 22 minutes. The strange neutron star could change our perception of these extreme stellar corpses.

Weirdly 'slow' neutron star challenges our understanding of stellar corpses : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Considering that the observational methods we use are poorly suited for finding things with this sort of repetition period, it isn't surprising that we don't have any theories to fit it. But, it seems like there are should be plenty of possibilities when you start including more than one body in the emission process. Maybe a companion star on an elliptical orbit, feeding/exciting a magnetar? Maybe this emitter is orbiting a black hole, and we are seeing lensing? Maybe it is a 3-body system. Maybe the emissions are coming form more than one of the bodies orbiting in the same tight system?