A stellar “Rosetta stone” reveals the source of mysterious cosmic signals

Astronomers have finally cracked the mystery behind a strange class of repeating cosmic signals that has baffled scientists for years. Using Australia’s ASKAP radio telescope, researchers traced the bursts to a rare stellar duo in which a dense white dwarf is relentlessly siphoning material from a nearby red dwarf companion. As the stolen matter spirals inward, the system unleashes powerful radio waves and X-rays every 1.4 hours. The discovery was made by an international research team led by scientists at the University of Sydney using CSIRO's ASKAP radio telescope. Their findings identify the origin of a rare class of objects known as long-period radio transients, mysteriou... [5518 chars]