In the latest remarkable discovery, astronomers have discovered a rare type of cosmic object in the Milky Way. The object called MAXI J1816-195 was found to be emitting X-ray light which was first discovered on June 7. Taken using the Japan Space Agency’s All-Sky X-ray Image (MAXI) screen. The discovery was made public by astrophysicist Hitoshi Negoro of Nihon University, Japan, and his team. They wrote, in a notice sent to The Astronomer’s Telegram (ATel), that a previously unindexed X-ray source has been identified.
According to a pulsar database compiled by astronomer Alessandro Patrono, the object is located within 30,000 light-years and is believed to be a millisecond x-ray pulsar.
They described its location to be at the galactic level between the constellations of Serpens, Scutum, and Sagittarius. The object was observed to glow relatively brighter but scientists were unable to identify it using the MAXI data.
However, later on, astrophysicist Jimmy Kenya of Pennsylvania State University and his colleagues used the Neil Gehrells Swift Observatory to observe the exact location of the object.
They wrote at ATel while emphasizing that the discovery was new: “This site is not located at the site of any known X-ray source, so we agree that this is a new transient source MAXI J1816-195.”
The notice also read that an archival note made using Swift/XRT to the site in 2017 did not reveal any point source.
In an effort to shed more light on the discovery, astrophysicist Peter Bolt of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center observed it using the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER). “This discovery shows that MAXI J1816-195 is a neutron star and a new millisecond X-ray pulsar,” they wrote.
After discovery, further observations are made and follow-up is done with Swift. In addition, the Liverpool Telescope on the Canary Island of La Palma in Spain has also been connected to discover an optical isotope.