In the latest and intriguing discovery, astronomers have discovered a rare type of cosmic object in the Milky Way. The object, named MAXI J1816-195, which was found to be emitting X-ray light was first detected on June 7. It was imaged using the Space Agency’s Monitor of the All-Sky X-ray Image (MAXI) Japanese headquarters. This discovery was brought to light by astrophysicist Hitoshi Negoro of Nihon University, Japan, and his team. They wrote, in an announcement posted on The Astronomer’s Telegram (ATel), that a previously unlisted source of X-rays had been identified.
According to a pulsar . database compiled by astronomer Alessandro Patruno, the object lies within 30,000 light-years and is thought to be an accumulating X-ray millisecond pulsar.
They describe its position in the galactic plane between the constellations Serpens, Scots and Centaur. The object was observed to be relatively brighter, but scientists were unable to identify it using the MAXI data.
Later, however, an astrophysicist, Jamie Kennea, from Pennsylvania State University and his colleagues used the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to observe the object’s definite position.
Surname Written in ATel while confirming that the detection is new.
The announcement adds that the storage observation made using Swift/XRT of the location in 2017 did not reveal any point source.
In an effort to shed more light on this discovery, astrophysicist Peter Bult of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, observed it using the Neutron Star Interior Component Explorer (BETTER). “This discovery suggests that MAXI J1816-195 is a neutron star and an X-ray pulsar that accumulates milliseconds,” they wrote.
Following this discovery, further observations are being made and follow-up has been conducted using Swift. In addition, the Liverpool Telescope on the Canary Island of La Palma in Spain has also been installed to detect an optical counterpart.
