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theconversation.comMysterious signals keep coming from space. We have found their ‘Rosetta stone’Seeing a signal in different kinds of light is like having a text written in several forms of writing – it makes it easier to decipher.

Science is a team sport but it’s also a community. Discoveries come from the efforts of many and build on foundations laid by our predecessors. The mystery of this strange object could not have been solved without the knowledge and efforts of my co-authors. theconversation.com/mysterious-s...

For years, astronomers have been finding sources that produce repeating bursts of radio light, known as long-period radio transients (LPTs). During this time a number of plausible explanations had been put forward but the true nature of LPTs had remained elusive.

Our discovery marks the first time we’ve confirmed an LPT to be an accreting white dwarf binary. This is a pair of stars (one of them a white dwarf) spiralling around each other so closely that the gravity of the white dwarf can pull (or accrete) material from its less massive companion.

Another unique aspect of this discovery is our detection of pulsations at both X-ray and radio wavelengths, which regularly repeat with each passing orbit of the stars. And this could have important implications and help us to figure out the origins of other LPTs. @ozgrav.bsky.social

1/6/26, 9:11 am0 reposts3 likes