{"id":499535,"date":"2026-06-14T17:27:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T17:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/499535\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T17:27:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T17:27:28","slug":"weird-signals-keep-reaching-earth-from-across-the-galaxy-and-we-may-finally-have-the-key-to-reading-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/499535\/","title":{"rendered":"Weird signals keep reaching Earth from across the Galaxy \u2013 and we may finally have the key to reading them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past few years, astronomers have been puzzled by a series of strange radio signals originating in the Milky Way. Around a dozen of these long-period radio transients (LPTs<\/a>) have been detected emanating from different parts of our Galaxy.<\/p>\n

Now \u2013 scientists at the University of Sydney in Australia report<\/a> in Nature Astronomy, led by Kovi Rose<\/a> \u2013 they may finally have tracked down the source of one of these signals to an unusual star system. They have dubbed it a \u2018stellar Rosetta Stone<\/a>\u2019, believing it can help them make sense of these weird signals.<\/p>\n

The newly identified system, named ASKAP J1745\u22125051, consists of a white dwarf \u2013 a dense stellar remnant roughly the size of Earth<\/a> but with a mass close to that of the Sun<\/a> \u2013 paired with a larger but lower-mass red dwarf star of about one-tenth the Sun\u2019s mass. The two stars orbit each other extremely closely, completing a full orbit in just over an hour.<\/p>\n

Interactions between the stars\u2019 magnetic fields generate radio bursts at specific points during their orbit, meaning the signal occurs at regular intervals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis system gives us a way to decode these signals. It could help us determine whether other long-period transients are more like pulsars or white dwarf systems, acting as a stellar Rosetta Stone,\u201d said Rose, referring to the archaeological object discovered in Egypt that helped translate ancient hieroglyphics.<\/p>\n

\"SmallThe two stars interact both magnetically and gravitationally – Credit: Carl Knox (OzGrav\/Swinburne) and Dr Joshua Preston Pritchard (CSIRO)<\/p>\n

As well as the radio signals, material from the less massive star is drawn towards the white dwarf, heating it up and emitting X-rays.<\/p>\n

This means the discovery not only provides a unique opportunity to study magnetic interactions between stars, but also extreme plasma physics under conditions that cannot be replicated on Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese systems are natural laboratories,\u201d Rose added. \u201cThey allow us to test our understanding of how matter behaves in strong magnetic fields and under intense gravitational forces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Darren Baskill<\/a>, a specialist in such cataclysmic variable star systems at Sussex University\u2019s Department of Physics & Astronomy, hailed the research. \u201cThey have provided good observations and explanations of what is causing these long-period radio transients,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But, he added, \u201cWhile the mystery of the source of these radio waves now appears to be solved, many more questions remain about the physics of cataclysmic variable stars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the past few years, astronomers have been puzzled by a series of strange radio signals originating in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[61,60,82],"class_list":["post-499535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}