Taken from http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18524896.300

* 05 March 2005
* From New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.

A MYSTERY object near the centre of our galaxy is sending out powerful
pulses of radio waves. It is unlike any known source.

A team of astronomers led by Scott Hyman of Sweet Briar College,
Virginia, detected the mysterious source using the Very Large Array
radio telescope in New Mexico. The pulses are coming from a spot just to
one side of the galactic centre. Each pulse lasts about 10 minutes, and
they repeat regularly every 77 minutes. If, as the researchers think,
the source is near the centre of the Milky Way, it would be one of the
most powerful emitters in the galaxy. The shape and timing of the pulses
rules out most known sources, such as radio pulsars (Nature, vol 434, p
50).

The object could be a magnetar - a neutron star with an ultra-strong
magnetic field. "Magnetars store plenty of energy to power the observed
outbursts," says Hyman. Or it may be something entirely new. To find out
more, the team is studying it using the Green Bank radio telescope in
West Virginia, and hopes to use NASA's Chandra space telescope to see if
it is also spitting out X-rays.
From issue 2489 of New Scientist magazine, 05 March 2005, page 21
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Nick in Northallerton
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