Science & Tech · Space · 9 hrs ago
White dwarf and sun-like star emit radio pulses every eight minutes
Astronomers detected radio pulses every eight minutes from a pair of stars known as GPM J071507−114153.
The system contains a white dwarf and a sun-like star.
White dwarfs are dense remnants of stars that have used up their nuclear fuel, and the pair is a type of binary system, meaning the stars orbit each other.
The system is a candidate for a long-period radio transient, a group of cosmic objects whose repeating radio signals arrive minutes or hours apart.
Unlike most previously found examples, this is the first such pair seen producing radio pulses.
The observations indicate the pulses come from near the white dwarf, or possibly from the white dwarf itself, and the discovery could help astronomers find similar systems and learn more about stars and the universe.
GPM J071507−114153, a pair of stars, emits repeating radio bursts about every eight minutes.
The system contains a white dwarf and a star similar to the Sun.
Researchers identified it as a candidate long-period radio transient, a type of object that emits radio waves at intervals of minutes to hours.
The discovery is the first detection of radio pulses from a white dwarf orbiting a Sun-like star.
The findings were reported in a study in Nature Astronomy.
- Who
- Astronomers studying the binary star system GPM J071507−114153.
- What
- The system emits repeating radio bursts about every eight minutes. It contains a white dwarf and a Sun-like star.
- When
- The articles were published on November 12, 2026; the date of the observations is not stated.
- Where
- The system’s location is not stated. The observations used telescopes in Western Australia, South Africa and Hawaii.
- Why
- The bursts are associated with the binary system, but their precise origin is not confirmed. Researchers said they come from near the white dwarf, or possibly from the white dwarf itself.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The Murchison Widefield Array in Western Australia detected the long-period radio transient.
Researchers used MeerKAT in South Africa to pinpoint a faint star, then the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii to record its spectrum.
- System
- GPM J071507−114153
- Burst interval
- About eight minutes
- Star pair
- A white dwarf and a G-type star similar to the Sun
- Classification
- Long-period radio transient candidate
- Study journal
- Nature Astronomy
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What people are saying
This is the first time the pulses are clear enough to see the white dwarf moving in its orbit around its companion, so we know that the pulsations are coming from a region close to the white dwarf, or possibly even from the white dwarf itself