Strange Signals Called Long-period Radio Transits Come From Cataclysmic Variables

This iullustration shows a white dwarf star accreting material from its companion. New research says that this can explain at least one of the puzzling Long Period Radio Transients, mysterious radio signals that repeat with periods ranging from a few minutes to a few hours. Image Credit: Carl Knox (OzGrav, Swinburne University of Technology) and Joshua Preston Pritchard (CSIRO).

Long-period Radio Transients are sources that emit repeating radio and x-ray signals. The signals are polarized and coherent, and are similar to pulsars in some respects. But the type of astrophysical object responsible for them has been vigorously debated. New research says that at least one of them comes from a cataclysmic variable, a binary star where a white dwarf and a red dwarf orbit closely.

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