"Unraveling the Mystery: Astronomers Encounter Enigmatic Cosmic Entity in Milky Way"

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Source: Phys.org
"Unraveling the Mystery: Astronomers Encounter Enigmatic Cosmic Entity in Milky Way"
Photo: Phys.org
TL;DR Summary

Astronomers have discovered a mysterious object in the NGC 1851 star cluster that defies easy explanation, likely lying at the boundary between neutron stars and black holes. The system consists of a millisecond pulsar and a massive, invisible companion, challenging our understanding of extreme matter in the universe. Observations using the MeerKAT radio telescope revealed that the system's combined mass is almost four times that of the sun, with the companion's mass falling within the "black hole mass gap." Speculation abounds as to whether this discovery represents a light black hole, a massive neutron star, or an entirely new astrophysical object, offering immense promise for understanding extreme environments in the universe.

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