11 February 2023 , 23:18
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Scientists believed they may have found proof of an alien life form after spotting an "impossible" spinning object 4,000 light years away.
The mysterious device was sending repeat radio signals every 18 minutes, and is unlike anything ever seen before in space, astronomers said.
Observations showed it was releasing a giant burst of energy three times an hour.
Astrophysicist Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker "broke out in a cold sweat" as she contemplated a potential breakthrough in the search for extra-terrestrial life.
She said she asked herself if this was "the moment we finally found that the truth is… out there?"
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Astrophysicist Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker "broke out in a cold sweat" (NAOC/Y. Zhang / SWNS.COM)Dr Hurley-Walker, who led the Australia-based research team, told News Science and Nature: "I was concerned that it was aliens."
Her team from the Curtin University, International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), were mapping radio waves in the universe when they hit upon the object.
It was first discovered by student Tyrone O'Doherty.
Dr Hurley-Walker told The Conversation she analysed the data and initially suspected the signals were just interference.
The object was first discovered by student Tyrone O'Doherty (NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team)But then an observation taken 18 minutes later showed "there the source was again in exactly the same place and at exactly the same frequency", she said.
"Like nothing astronomers had ever seen before," she added.
"At this point I broke out in a cold sweat."
Dr Hurley-Walker referred to a worldwide research effort looking for repeating cosmic radio signals transmitted at a signal frequency called the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.
"Was this the moment we finally found that the truth is … out there?" she said.
The object kept appearing and disappearing during observations.
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But the team "breathed a sigh of relief" after a few hours because the source was being detected across a wide range of frequencies "so the power it would take to generate it could only come from a natural source".
They now believe it could be a neutron star or white dwarf - the name for collapsed cores of stars.