A binary system formed by two stars – a white dwarf and a red dwarf – orbit so closely that its magnetic fields produce one of these pulses every two hours, according to Nature Astronomy publication that EFE reports.
The two stars orbit around a common center of gravity, giving a complete turn every 125.5 minutes.
The finding demonstrates that the movement of stars within a binary system can also emit long -period radius bursts.
Scientists have made monitoring observations with optical and X -ray telescopes, which has allowed them to attribute with certainty the origin of these pulses and explain for the first time the origin of such radio emissions found throughout the Milky Way.
The origin of the radio beats or pulses of the Milky Way
The astrophysics Iris of Ruiter, from the University of Amsterdam, developed a method to search for seconds of seconds to minutes in the historical archive of Lofar, the Low-Frequency array telescope of the Netherlands.
While perfecting the method, he discovered a single pulse in the observations of 2015. When looking for more archive data from the same area, he discovered six more pulses, and all came from a source called ILTJ1101.
As a brief flash of light, but in the form of radio, each pulse lasts between seconds and minutes. And, strangely, they are repeated at regular intervals, such as a cosmic clock that ticks once every two hours.
Red and white dwarf They blink together
With the aim of knowing the origin of the pulses, from Ruiter and his team obtained monitoring observations from the MMT Observatory of Arizona and the McDonald Observatory of Texas.
These observations revealed that the source was not a flashing star, but two stars that pressed together. Located only 1,600 years-old from the Earth, the two stars orbit around a common center of gravity, giving a complete turn every 125.5 minutes. S
The stars are about 1,600 years-old from us, in the direction of the Osa Mayor, also known as the plow, within the constellation of the Osa Mayor.
Astronomers believe that radio emission is due to the interaction of the red dwarf with the magnetic field of the white dwarf.
The team now plans to study in detail the ultraviolet emission of these intertwined stars to try to determine the temperature of the white dwarf and better know the history of the white and red dwarfs.
“It has been especially interesting to add new pieces to the puzzle,” says Ruiter.
Neutron stars
Thanks to this discovery, astronomers now know that neutron stars are not the only ones capable of producing bright radio pulses.
In recent years, other research groups have discovered a dozen radio emitting systems of this type but these groups have not yet been able to demonstrate whether they come from a white dwarf or a neutron star.
The researchers now seek in the Lofar data more pulses of this type long.
As explained by the co -author of the Kaustubh Rajwade study, of the University of Oxford (United Kingdom), “there are probably many more radio pulses of this type hidden in the Lofar Archive, and each discovery teaches us something new.”