Scientists at the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) have linked mysterious radio pulses to an unusual pairing of stars — a dead star that spins every eight minutes and a star similar to our own Sun.
The newly discovered system, known as GPM J071507−114153, consists of two stars orbiting each other: a white dwarf — the dense core left behind when a star dies — and a G-type star similar to our own Sun.
It is the first time radio pulses have been detected from a white dwarf orbiting a Sun-like star. Typically, such pulses are observed in systems with smaller and cooler red dwarf stars, meaning the discovery breaks new ground.
These types of stellar pairs belong to a broader class of objects known as long-period transients (LPTs), producing radio signals that switch on and off over intervals ranging from minutes to hours. Around a dozen have been detected since the first was discovered by the same ICRAR team in 2021, and astronomers are still working to understand them.
