Mystery of pulsing radio waves from deep space may be solved: scientists

Astronomers are dialed in for this discovery.

Researchers for the first time have tracked a pulsing radio signal in space back to its original source — deep in our Milky Way galaxy.

The team, led by Natasha Hurley-Walker, has learned that at least one of the mysterious radio signals to reach Earth — they have puzzled scientists for half a century — originated from a red dwarf star.

Walker, in an essay for The Conversation, explained that the red dwarf was likely in orbit with another star, a white dwarf, which had its core explode a very long time ago.

The new research, now published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, identifies the slowest ever radio burst of its kind, which releases minute-long pulses about once every three hours. It is named GLEAM-X J0704-37.

The Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope in Australia was used to scan the skies to find the radio signal’s source. ICRAR / Curtin University

Researchers harnessed two incredibly powerful radio telescopes, the Murchison Widefield Array of Western Australia and the MeerKAT in South Africa to trace back the frequencies to a red dwarf.

“These stars are incredibly common, making up 70% of the stars in the Milky Way, but they are so faint that not a single one is visible to the naked eye,” Walker wrote.

As to how a red and white dwarf could create such a signal, it is similar to the nature of our own solar system, according to Walker.

“The red dwarf probably produces a stellar wind of charged particles, just like our Sun does,” Walker added. “When the wind hits the white dwarf’s magnetic field, it would be accelerated, producing radio waves.”

She compared it to how solar winds interact with the Earth’s magnetic fields to create the northern lights and low-frequency radio waves.

As much of a breakthrough as this is, the team recognizes there is much more work to be done.

“On the other hand, there may be many different kinds of systems that can produce long-period radio pulsations,” Walker wrote.

“Either way, we’ve learned the power of expecting the unexpected – and we’ll keep scanning the skies to solve this cosmic mystery.”