Scientists have discovered mysterious radio pulses from a location they’ve never seen before. For the past ten years, we’ve been receiving these signals roughly every two hours, coming from the direction of the Big Dipper constellation.
After extensive research with various telescopes, experts believe they’ve pinpointed the source. It looks like these long radio emissions come from a pair of dead stars—a red dwarf and a white dwarf—orbiting closely together. Their intense magnetic fields interact, causing them to send out bursts of radio signals when they collide.
Previously, only neutron stars were known to emit such lengthy radio pulses. This finding marks a significant breakthrough, suggesting that binary star systems can produce these emissions too.
The signals can last anywhere from seconds to minutes. They resemble fast radio bursts (FRBs), another puzzling astronomical phenomenon, but with key differences. Kilpatrick, a researcher involved in the study, explains that while similar, these radio pulses have lower energy and last much longer than FRBs, which are typically brief.
This research sheds light on a fascinating area of astrophysics. Will we uncover more about these radio pulses in the future? Many in the scientific community think there may be connections between these emissions and other cosmic events, but researchers are still investigating.
If you’re curious to learn more, you can read the full study titled "Sporadic radio pulses from a white dwarf binary at the orbital period," published in Nature Astronomy. This ongoing exploration into the cosmos highlights just how much we still have to discover about the universe around us.
Check out this related article: Yun Guolin: Cambridge Physicist and Wearable Tech Innovator Takes His Expertise to China
Source link