A team of researchers has detected unusual radio signals coming from a region of space where such phenomena have not been observed so far. For over a decade, these impulses have been emitted every two hours from the constellation of Carul Mare.
Red dwarf star – a possible source of mysterious radio signals. Photo: NASA
After years of studies and observations with the help of several telescopes, scientists managed to identify a possible source of these signals: a system of two dead stars – a red dwarf and a white dwarf, informs The Independent.
The researchers believe that these two stars orbite one around the other so closely that their magnetic fields interact strongly. When the stars approach and interact, every two hours, they generate a detectable radio impulse.
“Radio impulses are very similar to fast radio gusts (FRBs), but have different durations”Explained researcher Kevin Kilpatrick. “These signals have much smaller energies than FRBs and can take a few seconds, while fast bursts last only milliseconds ”, he added.
Until now, such signals were only associated with neutron stars, but this discovery suggests that they can also be generated by dead stars. This opens a new research direction for astronomers, who are still trying to fully understand this mysterious cosmic phenomenon.
The discovery is detailed in a study published in Nature Astronomy magazine, under the title “Sporadic radio impulses from a binary white dwarf system to the orbital period”.
