CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronomers have discovered a strange new object in our Milky Way galaxy.

An international team reported Wednesday that this celestial object — perhaps a star, pair of stars or something else entirely — is emitting X-rays around the same time it’s shooting out radio waves. What’s more, the cycle repeats every 44 minutes, at least during periods of extreme activity.

Located 15,000 light-years away in a region of the Milky Way brimming with stars, gas and dust, this object could be a highly magnetized dead star like a neutron or white dwarf, Curtin University’s Ziteng Andy Wang said in an email from Australia.

Or it could be “something exotic” and unknown, said Wang, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature.

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory spotted the X-ray emissions by chance last year while focusing on a supernova remnant, or the remains of an exploded star. Wang said it was the first time X-rays had been seen coming from a so-called long-period radio transient, a rare object that cycles through radio signals over tens of minutes.

Given the uncertain distance, astronomers can’t tell if the weird object is associated with the supernova remnant or not. A single light-year is 5.8 trillion miles.

By MARCIA DUNN

Updated 5:21 PM GMT+2, May 28, 2025

https://archive.ph/PTnwG

Part of a Soviet spacecraft is expected to crash back down to Earth this weekend, with experts still unsure of where it will land.

Kosmos 482 was launched in March 1972 on a Soyuz rocket a few days after the Venera 8 atmospheric probe, and was thought to have a similar purpose. Intended to reach Venus, it failed to escape low Earth orbit and instead broke into four pieces.

Now, Kosmos 482’s lander probe is expected to come down to Earth with a bump. Marek Ziebart, professor of space geodesy at University College London, said the situation was unusual, noting de-orbited satellites tended to burn up in the planet’s atmosphere owing to drag.

However, that is unlikely to be the case for Kosmos 482 – a spacecraft that was designed to withstand Venus’s extreme conditions, such as its acidic atmosphere and extreme heat. “Anything we try to send Venus has to be armour plated,” said Ziebart.

It is not the first part of Kosmos 482 to do so: some components landed in New Zealand soon after the launch. According to Nasa, the lander probe contained a heat shield and a parachute to help it land. However, experts said these may have been compromised over time.

While the altitude of Kosmos 482 has gradually decreased, quite when it will crash to Earth remains unclear. Nasa said it was expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere some time from 9 to 10 May.