Astronomers Trace Eight-minute Radio Pulses to Rare Star System

WHO:

NY Post - Astronomers linked the radio pulses to an unusual pairing of celestial bodies.

Phys.org - Scientists at the Curtin University node of the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) linked the pulses to a pairing of stars.

Phys.org - The system includes a dead star and a star similar to the Sun.

WHAT:

The Conversation - The source is a white dwarf pulsar, the first identified orbiting a Sun-like star.

The Conversation - The radio flashes arrive every 7.9 minutes and appear during a roughly six-hour window, followed by 26 hours without pulses.

The Conversation - The system’s two stars orbit each other every 32 hours.

The Conversation - The pulsing object is about two-thirds the Sun’s mass, too light to be a neutron star.

NY Post - Scientists reported mysterious, regular radio signals that arrive every eight minutes.

Phys.org - A rare star system emits radio signals every eight minutes.

Phys.org - The dead star spins once every eight minutes.

WHERE:

The Conversation - MeerKAT in South Africa pinpointed the source; the Keck telescope in Hawai’i recorded the star’s spectrum.

The Conversation - The observations used the Murchison Widefield Array in Western Australia.

NY Post - The celestial system is 5,000 light-years from Earth.

WHEN:

NY Post - The radio pulses recur every eight minutes.

Phys.org - The radio signals recur every eight minutes; the dead star also spins every eight minutes.

HOW:

The Conversation - Researchers inferred the orbit from pulse arrival-time shifts of up to four seconds and combined orbital calculations with spectrum measurements to estimate the pulsing object’s mass.

The Conversation - Researchers propose the white-dwarf progenitor expanded into a giant, engulfed its companion, and lost its outer layers after the companion spiraled inward.

(UPDATED November 13, 2026 02:03 UTC)

Astronomers identified a rare white dwarf pulsar orbiting a star similar to the Sun. Its radio flashes arrive every eight minutes, during a six-hour window, then stop. The two stars orbit each other every 32 hours, 5,000 light-years away.

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(UPDATED November 12, 2026 20:05 UTC)

Astronomers traced mysterious radio pulses repeating every eight minutes to a rare star system. It pairs a dead star with a companion similar to our Sun. The system lies 5,000 light-years from Earth, and its dead star spins every eight minutes.