Mystery Space Object Sends ‘Inexplicable’ Signal to Earth  

This image obtained December 2, 2015 from NASA shows the Sun’s light reflected off a body of water as the International Space Station orbits Earth. (NASA/AFP)
This image obtained December 2, 2015 from NASA shows the Sun’s light reflected off a body of water as the International Space Station orbits Earth. (NASA/AFP)
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Mystery Space Object Sends ‘Inexplicable’ Signal to Earth  

This image obtained December 2, 2015 from NASA shows the Sun’s light reflected off a body of water as the International Space Station orbits Earth. (NASA/AFP)
This image obtained December 2, 2015 from NASA shows the Sun’s light reflected off a body of water as the International Space Station orbits Earth. (NASA/AFP)

A mysterious object in space has been sending an “unexpected” pulsing signal to Earth that is “unlike anything ever seen before.”

The object, which is inside our own galaxy, has been sending signals that are so unique they have completely stumped scientists.

The British LBC website quoted Nasa scientist Richard Stanton, who discovered the signal, as saying that he can’t rule out the possibility that the signal is coming from an alien civilization.

In a study published in the Acta Astronautica scientific journal, Stanton laid out his discovery of an unexpected “signal” coming from a sun-like star about 100 light-years from Earth in May 2023.

The signal was a pulse of light from the star that increases, then decreases and then increases again very quickly - something that the scientist says qualifies it as “strange.”

Even stranger, though, is that the unique signal from the Ursa Major (Great Bear) constellation was repeated again, exactly 4 seconds after it was first sent to Earth.

The pulses of light were completely identical, which according to the study, has never been seen in previous searches.

The “unique” signal also made the light from its nearby star behave strangely, and made the star “partially disappear in a tenth of a second,” according to Stanton.

“In over 1,500 hours of searching, no single pulse resembling these has ever been detected,” he added.

“The fine structure in the star's light between the peaks of the first pulse repeats almost exactly in the second pulse 4.4 seconds later. No one knows how to explain this behavior,” he said.

The study shows that a very similar signal was recorded in 2019, but was simply dismissed at “birds” at the time, which Stanton has ruled out.

The scientist also ruled out “common signals”, which can come from meteors, satellites, airplanes, lighting, atmospheric scintillation, and system noise.

Stanton said the signals from those sources “are completely different from these pulses.”

The study describes many different potential sources for the signal, including refracting light moving through the Earth’s atmosphere, which Stanton said was unlikely.

Other possible sources he discussed were starlight diffraction from a distant object in the solar system, or eclipses caused by Earth’s satellites or asteroids moving through our solar system.

But Stanton said that, in these early stages of research, it is impossible to rule out the involvement of alien intelligence.

“None of these explanations are really satisfying at this point,” said Stanton. “We don't know what kind of object could produce these pulses or how far away it is.”

“We don't know if the two-pulse signal is produced by something passing between us and the star or if it is generated by something that modulates the star's light without moving across the field,” he added.

Stanton said: “Until we learn more, we can't even say whether or not extraterrestrials are involved!”



Nearby Sculptor Galaxy Revealed in Ultra-Detailed Galactic Image

This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
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Nearby Sculptor Galaxy Revealed in Ultra-Detailed Galactic Image

This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)

The Sculptor galaxy is similar in many respects to our Milky Way. It is about the same size and mass, with a similar spiral structure. But while it is impossible to get a full view of the Milky Way from the vantage point of Earth because we are inside the galaxy, Sculptor is perfectly positioned for a good look.

Astronomers have done just that, releasing an ultra-detailed image of the Sculptor galaxy on Wednesday obtained with 50 hours of observations using one of the world's biggest telescopes, the European Southern Observatory's Chile-based Very Large Telescope.

The image shows Sculptor, also called NGC 253, in around 4,000 different colors, each corresponding to a specific wavelength in the optical spectrum.

Because various galactic components emit light differently across the spectrum, the observations are providing information at unprecedented detail on the inner workings of an entire galaxy, from star formation to the motion of interstellar gas on large scales. Conventional images in astronomy offer only a handful of colors, providing less information.

The researchers used the telescope's Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer, or MUSE, instrument.

"NGC 253 is close enough that we can observe it in remarkable detail with MUSE, yet far enough that we can still see the entire galaxy in a single field of view," said astronomer Enrico Congiu, a fellow at the European Southern Observatory in Santiago, and lead author of research being published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

"In the Milky Way, we can achieve extremely high resolution, but we lack a global view since we're inside it. For more distant galaxies, we can get a global view, but not the fine detail. That's why NGC 253 is such a perfect target: it acts as a bridge between the ultra-detailed studies of the Milky Way and the large-scale studies of more distant galaxies. It gives us a rare opportunity to connect the small-scale physics with the big-picture view," Congiu said.

Sculptor is about 11 million light-years from Earth, making it one of the closest big galaxies to the Milky Way. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

Like the Milky Way, it is a barred spiral galaxy, meaning it has an elongated structure extending from its nucleus, with spiral arms extending from the ends of the bar. Its diameter of about 88,000 light-years is similar to the Milky Way's, as is its total mass. One major difference is Sculptor's rate of new star formation, estimated to be two to three times greater than that of the Milky Way.

Nearly 30% of this star formation is happening near the galaxy's nucleus in what is called a starburst region, as revealed in colorful emissions shown in the new image.

The observations have given information on a wide range of properties such as the motion, age and chemical composition of stars and the movement of interstellar gas, an important component of any galaxy.

"Since the light from stars is typically bluer if the stars are young or redder if the stars are old, having thousands of colors lets us learn a lot about what stars and populations of stars exist in the galaxy," said astronomer Kathryn Kreckel of Heidelberg University in Germany, a study co-author.

"Similarly for the gas, it glows in specific bright emission lines at very specific colors, and tells us about the different elements that exist in the gas, and what is causing it to glow," Kreckel said.

The initial research being published from the observations involves planetary nebulae, which are luminous clouds of gas and dust expelled by certain dying stars. Despite their name, they have nothing to do with planets. These nebulae can help astronomers measure the precise distances of faraway galaxies.

The researchers marveled at the scientific and aesthetic value of the new view of Sculptor.

"I personally find these images amazing," Congiu said. "What amazes me the most is that every time I look at them, I notice something new - another nebula, a splash of unexpected color or some subtle structure that hints at the incredible physics behind it all."