Scientists decode mystery of strange radio signal bursts from space

Despite considerable advancements in astronomy in recent times, scientists, for years, had been left puzzled by radio bursts from space that did not match known types such as pulsars.

Known as long-period transients (LPTs), these radio bursts can last for several minutes at a time and can even recur on unusual timescales.

Given their nature, and their dissimilarity with other types of radio bursts, LPTs had left scientists baffled, up until now.

After years of mystery, a team of scientists led by researchers from the University of Amsterdam, University of Oxford, and the University of Sydney have traced the strange signal bursts to the constellation of Ursa Major.

Nestled amid the systems in Ursa Major are a duo: a white dwarf (the collapsed core of a former Sun-like star), and a red dwarf, a cool, low-mass companion star, which orbit each other every 125 minutes, giving rise to unsual radio bursts detected here on Earth.

Scientists believe that the powerful magnetic field of the white dwarf star is responsible for the strange radio bursts, with the star's spinning sending out bursts of energy in a manner similar to a lighthouse beam.

Another theory suggests that the radio bursts come from the interaction between the magnetic fields of the white dwarf and its companion red dwarf.

Why is this significant?

The discovery changes our understanding of how radio signals are produced in space.

Up until now, coherent radio signals were believed to be mostly coming from neutron stars. This discovery, however, siggests that white dwarfs too are capable of such a feat.

"Each discovery is telling us something new about the extreme astrophysical objects that can create the radio emission we see. For instance, the unexpected observation of coherent radio emission from the white dwarf in this study could help probe the evolution of magnetic fields in this type of star," Dr Kaustubh Rajwade, who studies LPTs, was quoted as saying by Daily Galaxy.

Going forward, the discovery suggests that there could be more such unusual systems capable of emitting radio signals, something that broadens the scope of radio astronomy.