Quasi-periodic oscillations

Have you ever played on a swing at the playground? You go back and forth, back and forth, and it takes the same amount of time for each swing, like a steady beat. That's called "periodic."

But sometimes swings don't swing at a steady beat. They might go back and forth a little faster or slower each time. That's called "quasi-periodic."

Now imagine instead of a swing, we're talking about something in space - like a neutron star or a black hole. Scientists have found that some of these things give off waves of energy, kind of like a swing moving back and forth. And sometimes those waves don't come in a steady beat - they're quasi-periodic.

It can be hard for scientists to figure out why these quasi-periodic oscillations happen. But they study them because they give clues to what's going on inside the neutron star or black hole. Just like how watching a swing can tell us about the energy you put in to start it moving and how gravity is affecting it.