Recently discovered object has astronomers scratching their heads

A recently discovered mystery object in our galaxy has astronomers scratching their heads. The object orbits a dead star, called a pulsar, but scientists can't quite figure out what it is.

It could be a super lightweight black hole, much smaller than any ever seen before. These are called stellar-mass black holes, and they form when the cores of giant stars collapse in on themselves under their own gravity, causing a spectacular explosion called a supernova. The leftover material is then crushed into a tiny, incredibly dense ball. Black holes are so dense that not even light can escape their gravity.

Another possibility is that the object is a super heavyweight neutron star. Neutron stars are also the leftover cores of collapsed stars, but much less massive than the cores that form black holes. The intense pressure of the collapse crushes the atoms in the star's core, cramming protons and electrons together to form neutrons. This creates a super dense ball of neutrons, which is why they are called neutron stars.

Right now, scientists don't have enough information to say for sure what the object is. They'll need to gather more data from telescopes to unlock its secrets. This discovery is exciting because it could help us learn more about how black holes and neutron stars form in space, and potentially shed light on the life cycle of massive stars.