Astronomers have found a neutron star spinning at an astonishing 1122 rotations per second, 1.5 times faster than any other star.

Till now, no neutron star has ever been found to spin faster than 716 times per second, which was the previous record.

But now, new observations have revealed a neutron star that appears to be spinning much faster than that supposed speed limit.

If confirmed, the finding could bolster the possibility of exotic "soft" states of matter inside dense stars, as it is highly possible that the star might not have been ripped apart by its ultra-fast rotation.

Philip Kaaret of the University of Iowa in Iowa City and his team used NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) satellite to observe violent outbursts on a neutron star called XTE J1739-285.

The team found the outbursts happened because the neutron star was stealing matter from a nearby companion star.

Findings further revealed that when enough of this matter built up on the neutron star's surface, it sparked a thermonuclear explosion that generated X-rays.

In one such burst, Kaaret's team found regular brightness variations with a frequency of 1122 Hz.

The researchers believe the regular variations are most likely the result of the star's spin, which could bring brighter and darker regions into view periodically.

"If correct, having a neutron star spin this fast removes any real need for something like a gravitational wave limit on neutron star spin rates," New Scientist quoted Kaaret as saying.

He however, added that there was still a small chance that the apparent high frequency signal was just due to random fluctuations rather than the star's spin rate.

"It's really important that the signal be confirmed," he added.