Astronomers have discovered a strange new object in our Milky Way galaxy.

An international team reported Wednesday that this celestial object � perhaps a star, pair of stars or something else entirely � is emitting X-rays around the same time it�s shooting out radio waves. What�s more, the cycle repeats every 44 minutes, at least during periods of extreme activity.

Located 15,000 light-years away in a region of the Milky Way brimming with stars, gas and dust, this object could be a highly magnetized dead star like a neutron or white dwarf, Curtin University�s Ziteng Andy Wang said in an email from Australia.

Or it could be �something exotic� and unknown, said Wang, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature.

NASA�s Chandra X-ray Observatory spotted the X-ray emissions by chance last year while focusing on a supernova remnant, or the remains of an exploded star. Wang said it was the first time X-rays had been seen coming from a so-called long-period radio transient, a rare object that cycles through radio signals over tens of minutes.

Given the uncertain distance, astronomers can�t tell if the weird object is associated with the supernova remnant or not. A single light-year is 5.8 trillion miles.

The hyperactive phase of this object � designated ASKAP J1832?091 � appeared to last about a month. Outside of that period, the star did not emit any noticeable X-rays. That could mean more of these objects may be out there, scientists said.

�While our discovery doesn�t yet solve the mystery of what these objects are and may even deepen it, studying them brings us closer to two possibilities,� Wang said. �Either we are uncovering something entirely new, or we�re seeing a known type of object emitting radio and X-ray waves in a way we�ve never observed before.�

Launched in 1999, Chandra orbits tens of thousands of miles (kilometers) above Earth, observing some of the hottest, high-energy objects in the universe.

(AP)