Imagine watching a routine space science broadcast, expecting to hear about known planets or distant stars, and suddenly… something appears that seems straight out of a science fiction script. We’re talking about a source of cosmic energy coming from a remote point in the universe, detected by extremely sensitive instruments. It’s not a supernova, nor is it a black hole. And, surprisingly, not even NASA can explain what it is, at least for now. And even more curious is that similar signals had already appeared discreetly in previous measurements, but were always dismissed as background noise or minor reading errors.
A mysterious cosmic signal
Before revealing the name scientists have already begun using behind the scenes, it’s worth understanding what makes this discovery so intriguing. First, the location, because the source of this energy appears to come from far beyond the Milky Way, in a region not yet precisely mapped. Second, the nature of the signals: they are short but incredibly powerful bursts. And third, the fact that they don’t correspond to any known phenomenon, be it gamma-ray bursts, black hole activity, or pulsars.
And here’s the revelation: scientists already know this is something rare. In the case of altermagnetism, for example, something that also seemed “inexplicable” at first, the description was clear, according to Peter Wadley, study co-author and professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Nottingham:
“Altermagnets consist of magnetic moments that point antiparallel to their neighbors. However, each part of the crystal hosting these tiny moments is rotated with respect to its neighbors. This is like antiferromagnetism with a twist! But this subtle difference has huge ramifications.”
This same logic, of something that seems known but doesn’t quite fit into the categories already mapped, is what is making scientists uneasy now.
What’s behind the cosmic mystery: New phenomenon, glitch, or alien signal?
Even with clear data, NASA and international partners are still treating the case cautiously. Three lines of reasoning emerge as the main candidates to explain what was detected:
- A completely new astrophysical phenomenon: as with altermagnetism, we may be facing an unprecedented cosmic manifestation, something never before recorded. In the magnetic study, the surprise was the union of properties previously considered incompatible:
“Our experimental work has provided a bridge between theoretical concepts and real-life realization, which hopefully illuminates a path to developing altermagnetic materials for practical applications”, University of Nottingham’s Dr. Oliver Amin.
- Instrumental error: The second hypothesis is always the most conservative: a sensor failure. However, as in the study conducted on the MAX IV, in which every technical detail was checked to confirm the altermagnetism mapping, engineers are reviewing all systems. In the magnetic case, precision was achieved because X-rays are shone onto the magnetic material, and the electrons emitted from the surface are detected using a special microscope.
- Artificial source: The most speculative of the hypotheses, but one that always sparks curiosity: could it be something produced by non-terrestrial technology (like this alien spacecraft circling Earth)? Officially, there’s no evidence of this, but researchers point out that ruling out possibilities too early can lead to missing important discoveries.
Mapping the unknown: How scientists plan to decode the cosmic enigma
The investigation already has a defined action plan, similar to that used for cutting-edge scientific discoveries. The next steps include ongoing monitoring with multi-wavelength telescopes; comparing historical records to identify similar occurrences in the past; and international partnerships to expand the scope of the measurements.
As with altermagnetism, when researchers were able to produce detailed maps of the magnetic order vector and manipulate specific spin configurations, the idea now is to create a detailed map of the origin of this energy and understand how to control or predict it. Just as NASA did with the 10-billion-year-old signals recently detected.
