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Astronomers Unravel the Mystery of Strange Radio Pulses in the Milky Way

For over a decade, astronomers have been baffled by a mysterious phenomenon—radio pulses emanating from deep within our Milky Way galaxy. These signals, lasting between 30 and 90 seconds, repeated like clockwork every two hours, hinting at a celestial enigma near the Ursa Major constellation, home to the iconic Big Dipper.

Now, researchers have traced these unusual signals to an unexpected source: a binary star system known as ILTJ1101. At its heart lies a white dwarf, the remnant of a once-massive star, orbiting closely with a cool red dwarf, the most common type of star in the universe. The intense magnetic interactions between these two stellar bodies generate what’s known as a long period radio transient (LPT)—a rare type of radio burst previously only associated with neutron stars, the dense remnants of stellar explosions.

The discovery, published in Nature Astronomy, marks a breakthrough in understanding these puzzling signals.

“We have, for the first time, established which stars produce the radio pulses in this mysterious new class of long period radio transients,” said Dr. Iris de Ruiter, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sydney.

Locked in a Celestial Dance

To crack the case, de Ruiter combed through archival data from the Low-Frequency Array telescope (LOFAR)—a vast network of European radio telescopes that detect some of the lowest radio frequencies observable from Earth.

While analyzing observations from 2015, she identified a single pulse. As she zeroed in on that region of the sky, she found six more, all seemingly originating from a faint red dwarf. However, given the star’s characteristics, it was unlikely to produce such strong radio waves on its own. This suggested another celestial force was at play.

Unlike fast radio bursts (FRBs)—brief, millisecond-long flashes of radio waves that originate from beyond our galaxy—LPTs persist for seconds or even minutes. Some can last close to an hour, making them distinct from the rapid pulses emitted by pulsars, which are spinning neutron stars.

Natasha Hurley-Walker, a radio astronomer at Curtin University’s International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, described the discovery as groundbreaking.

“Transient radio sources have led to some of the most exciting breakthroughs in astrophysics,” she explained. “From the discovery of pulsars and neutron stars to FRBs, which help us measure invisible matter between galaxies—now, LPTs offer yet another exciting window into the universe.”

The Universe’s Hidden Signals

What’s even more intriguing is that these signals had been hiding in historical data for decades, unnoticed until now. The ability to revisit archival data with advanced analytical techniques could lead to even more discoveries in the field of radio astronomy.

With next-generation radio telescopes scanning the cosmos, astronomers believe more extraordinary revelations are on the horizon—including the tantalizing possibility of detecting technosignatures—signals that could be created by intelligent life.

“The biggest breakthrough would be the discovery of technosignatures via SETI,” Hurley-Walker noted, referencing the ongoing search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

As scientists continue to explore the depths of space, each new finding brings us one step closer to unlocking the vast and mysterious universe that surrounds us.